Anisul Islam Noor :
The farmers are not getting production cost after a bumper paddy yielding in Boro season as the zero tariff imported rice hover three times higher than previous years.
The current market price of paddy is between Tk 420 and 470 per maund while the average production cost was around Tk 800 as per the government’s assessment.
According to the Food Directorate, though the price of rice has fallen by 6 per cent in the whole sale market, there is no impact of it in the retail level. A group of middlemen are making excessive profit from retail markets, the consumers alleged.
During the last fiscal year, a total of 3.74 lakh tonnes of rice was imported. But in the current fiscal 12.91 lakh tonnes rice already been import till April 20, according data of the Ministry of Food.
Meanwhile, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has said that yielding Boro this season reached all time high due to good weather and decrease of fertilizer price.
Around 47.8 lakh hectars of land were brought under Boro cultivation from where an estimated production target of paddy is about 1.89 crore tonnes, sources in the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) said.
The rice traders are not purchasing paddy for the rice mills as the cost of imported rice is lower than local rice. Imported rate of rice stood at Tk25 to 30 per kg while local rice at Tk31 to 32. As a result, about 15 thousand rice mills out of 18 thousand remained shut though the Boro harvesting period is almost over, said Niroth Chandra Saha, President of Nator Rice Owners Association.
Bangladesh Bank data shows that rice imports have registered a phenomenal increase, though the government had contemplated rice exports last year because of inadequate storage space.
Bangladesh saw a bumper paddy harvest last year and the export plan was considered as a means of ensuring fair price to marginal farmers and dealing with the storage crisis.
The trend of opening Letters of Credit (LCs) to import rice in the first seven months (July to January) of the current fiscal (2014-2015) was up 1000 per cent compared to the same period in FY 2013-14.
Dr Mahbub Hossain, former Executive Director of BRAC, said the price of fertilizer decreased by 30 per cent. Besides, favourable weather and increasing irrigation facility the country reached a new height in rice production.
The government should curb rice import to encourage local paddy grower, he said.
A senior official of the Ministry of Food, on condition of anonymity, told this reporter that there is no plan to halt rice import. But the government is considering a proposal to impose 10 per cent tariff on rice import.
