PASSING the Aman harvest, rice price has not come down as government leaders earlier said and rather gone up to the dismay of the common people all over the country. Though farmers are happy with higher price; although they have suffered production loss at many places due to late receding of floodwater, consumers are at a loss how to cope with the big budget to buy rice at higher cost throughout the year. People are afraid price may further escalate if the market remains vulnerable to dealers’ syndicates.
The government has no control over the market while the intermediaries and hoarders illegally shoot up prices of the essential grain, pushing many middle-income people to consume less and spend less on health, clothing, and education. The government arrangement to import rice has failed to arrest the price escalation while it has offered opportunity to big importers and powerful people in the government to take advantage of the market unrest to mint illegal fortune. Every such deal had reportedly underhand dealing justify big import deals.
As rice is the main staple food, the higher price of coarse and fine rice put many marginal people under poverty line in terms of lower daily intake when prices of other essentials are also soaring. Food inflation is skyrocketing along with soaring prices of vegetables and spices such as the cost of onion. The government presence is almost unnoticeable in the market as people wonder what they are going to face, as prices of essentials are terrorizing people without noticeable relief.
Media reports said new ordinary rice sells this time of the year at Tk 40-41 per kg as against Tk 32-34 last year. Fine rice sells at Tk 70 while middle-quality rice sells at Tk 65. This is unimaginable as people feel abandoned by the government. People had so long waited that Aman harvest would bring relief; now many say the market will remain volatile until Boro harvest. But there is no guarantee that prices will fall despite a good harvest not affected by flood again.
We must say the government must take vigorous move to procure rice from market after harvest and millers should not be allowed to control the procurement selling inferior rice to the government at higher price. What many fear is that the country may face severe food crisis despite good harvest and huge import as rice dealers keeping rice price beyond buyers’ affordability. The fact is that rich will have no problem, they have huge money to buy rice at whatever price; the poor will suffer the worst.
We must say that the government should set actions to keep the price of food lower at tolerable level to stop sharp rise in the number of people below poverty line. Food crisis must be averted at any cost.
