Staff Reporter :
Selling rice and flour through open market sale (OMS) programme will continue until the rice market becomes stable.
Besides, the government has finalized to import 10.30 lakh tonnes of rice and wheat under government to government (G2G) system.
Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder said this during a press briefing held at the secretariat on Tuesday.
‘The government operates the program for five months – from March to April and September to November – every year and the OMS programme will continue as long as the market is unstable,’ he said.
The government started OMS from September 1 and under the service, people can purchase one kg of rice at Tk 30 and one kg of flour at Tk 18.
Village people are also getting the benefit of OMS and they can procure rice and flour from enlisted dealers of the food department, Sadhan Chandra Majumder said, adding “Local administration, officials of Food Department and intelligence team are monitoring the service.”
Concerned Upazila Nirbahi Officers and other stake holders have been looking after the OMS programme across the country.
The government is conducting OMS programme through 2366 centres in Dhaka and densely populated divisional towns in the country.
Talking about Boro procurement, the food minister said, the government has procured 11.21 lakh tonnes of boiled rice while 55.20 thousand tonnes of non-boiled rice.
‘The government has a target to procure 6 lakh tonnes of paddy, but we got only 2.68 lakh tonnes,’ he said.
‘During the current Aman season, the government will import rice after ensuring fair prices for the farmers. The government is going to procure 10.30 lakh tonnes of rice and wheat from several countries,’ he said.
As per agreement, the government will purchase 2.30 lakh tonnes of rice from Vietnam, two lakh tonnes from Myanmar, one lakh ton from India, and five lakh tonnes of wheat from Russia, he added.
He also hinted at more procurement of rice by the government to tackle the drought in advance.
An individual can buy 5kgs of rice and flour. Besides, the TCB card holders can also avail the opportunity.
Meanwhile, the government also started the ‘food friendly programme’ from the same day under which 50 lakh people can purchase rice at Tk 15 from 10110 dealers across the country. The total food grain stock is now 19,64,295 tonnes in government warehouses in the country.
