THE government has decided to buy 6.5 lakh tonnes of paddy and 11.5 lakh tonnes of rice from the local market to increase its food stock amid the Boro harvest, Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder said at a virtual press briefing. The purchase of paddy at Tk 27 per kg will start today (Wednesday) and 10 lakh tonnes of parboiled rice at Tk 40 per kg on May 7. The Food Minister said, this year the government has set a higher price than previous year for benefitting the farmers, risking a possibility of increasing the rice price at the retail level again. And if the market price increases again the government would expand safety net programme to control the same. It means, the poor will have to depend on government mercy to get food.
The rice stock is now 3.05 lakh tonnes which clearly indicates that government has no sufficient food stock in hand to tackle an emergency situation. The stock of around 10 lakh tonnes of rice is considered as safe. What’s significant is that the government could not meet its procurement target in the last Boro and Aman seasons as the purchase prices of paddy and rice were lower than the farming costs. So, the farmers and millers did not sell grains to the government. Having failed, the government went for import. No doubt, the government is again following the same path by importing 50,000 metric tonnes of rice from India during the harvesting time. We’re not surprised at all that the government has apparently no control over the rice market to check its spiraling price for the benefit of low-income group people. It had promised to give rice at Tk 10 per kg to the people. But now, people are buying rice spending around Tk 50-70 per kg. Import duty cut and easing L/C procedures couldn’t check the soaring prices of rice in the market.
The Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council on January 26 in a report blamed the government’s mystifying steps in favour of business syndicates for soaring prices of essential commodities, like rice. At the same time, inflated production data was also blamed as another reason for price hike. The owners of large mills, seasonal traders and syndicated businessmen create an abnormal situation affecting the market where government machinery becomes inoperative.
