The government on Tuesday launched drives across the country against illegal rice hoarders and traders, a day after the Prime Minister ordered strict measures to check the prices of the essential commodity. Eight teams of the Food Ministry launched the drives to detect those involved in creating an artificial crisis by hoarding rice illegally. They are taking legal steps against them. As part of the measures, letters will be sent to deputy commissioners and national security intelligence.
Amid the rice price hike in Bangladesh, Open Market Sales (OMS) trucks were seen selling rice at Tk 30 per kg in the capital on Tuesday. In the past month, prices of rice have gone up by Tk 5-8 per kg, and in the last week, alarmingly up by Tk 2-5 per kg. In Naogaon, one of the largest rice hubs in the country, the price of rice has skyrocketed during the Boro season in a week. On Tuesday, the price increased by Tk 200 to Tk 300 per sack (50kg) in the wholesale market, thus affecting the retail market. They claimed that the cost of rice production had also gone up due to the rise in paddy prices. The price had to be increased to adjust the cost.
During a regular Cabinet meeting on Monday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina directed the authorities concerned to find out why rice prices were so high during the peak harvest season. The meeting decided to conduct drives against illegal rice hoarders and monitor the rice market strongly. Illegal hoarding is a crime and a great sin. The government, on one hand, must provide subsidiaries for cheap food production, nurture the supply chain, upgrade food storage facilities, and promote cross-cutting issues like high-yielding seeds, salinity tolerance, and nutrient crops with the proper distribution channels.
All food items should be at an affordable price and accessible to all. Coming times would be more challenging for food security as climate change’s impact on agro-production is visible now.
