FARMERS threw sacks of paddy on roads in Rangpur city on Tuesday protesting the government indifference to buy seasonal Boro and wheat directly from them under the food grains procurement drive. In fact the government procurement drive aims at offering price support to farmers at Tk 23, Tk 32 and Tk 20 for per kg of paddy, rice and wheat during this season. Government believes it will cover production cost. But a slow and skewed official procurement drive with a very low presence of Food Ministry officials in the market to buy paddy directly from farmers has severely hit them in the Rangpur region and also in almost all other regions. The government fixed fair price for farmers’ produce and reaching people that price is not the same thing. Rent seekers and dishonest traders are at work everywhere to derail the move and take away the benefits. We are also afraid that the government plan to export rice, which many believe will also bring fair price to growers, may not achieve the goal. This is because a policy is not enough without its fair implementation and it precariously not working because of corruption and the presence of dishonest people undoing every good initiative. Farmers’ complaint that they are selling their produce to middlemen below production cost is highly worrisome. These middlemen are then selling to government godowns sharing profits with procurement officials. It is quite unacceptable and farmers protested against the unscrupulous procurement drive this time in Rangpur throwing unsold paddy on the road. Their actions are targeted to attract the attention of the government to end their plights. As we see, the government procurement policy is a regular price support programme after major harvest seasons. There are also enough budgetary resources for that but what appears to be depriving farmers is the fictitious procurement arrangement involving traders and food officials, largely keeping farmers out of the benefit. Thus people who were to benefit from the official food grains procurement is not benefiting as the entire system has become hostage to dishonest people minting illegal fortune. We must take note that if farmers don’t get fair price, they will switch land to other cash crop jeopardizing national food security.It is urgent the official food grains procurement drive must be saved from unbridled crimes, corruption and grabbing of public resources. It is not that the government does not know it because this is an annual saga betraying the poor farmers. In our view the government must act quickly starting direct buying of paddy from farmers at Rangpur and other places. Saving farmers is to save agriculture and rural economy, in addition to ensuring food security to the nation. We can’t allow vested quarters to destroy our farmers.
