If one of the objectives of the government's yearly food grains procurement drive, as often told by officials concerned, is to ensure a fair price for farmers, then so far, the ongoing one for Aman crop cannot be said to have been up to that objective. Though, as reported, officials doing the procurement are getting spontaneous response from millers, who are getting Tk 4.0 more for each kg of rice than the market price, the same is not true of farmers. But they are also offered a similar incentive of additional Tk 2.0 per kg of paddy over the market rate. Going by a report in the Monday's issue of this paper, only 0.013 million tonnes (6.5 per cent) of paddy, out of the targeted 0.2 million tonnes, have been procured since the launching of the drive a month ago. But when it comes to the procurement of rice, the picture is quite the opposite with the rice mill owners responding promptly to the offer. Small wonder that poorer performance in case of paddy notwithstanding, overall, this year's food grains procurement drive so far has proved to be rather encouraging with the report of 30 per cent of the total original procurement target of 0.7 million tonnes already achieved.
Why is this dichotomy between the paddy and rice procurement targets? As is evident, the farmers as in the past hardly ever find the price for their crop, paddy, as offered by the government, lucrative. Seeing that there is little difference between the market price for paddy and that offered by the government at Tk 30 a kilogramme (kg) this year, there is no reason for farmers to make a beeline for the government's procurement centres. Also consider the hassles they have to go through at the official purchasing spots.
Dryness of paddy, for instance, is a big issue with the food directorate officials as they will allow only 14 per cent moisture content for paddy they would buy. But how can farmers meet the condition as they have no device in their hands to fulfil this officially set technical requirement? There is also the usual bureaucracy at work at the official channel of procurement which is a big barrier to farmers' willingness to make use of it. Also, due to unfavourable weather, farmers this time are reportedly facing problem drying their paddy. Even so, the paddy procurement drive would be more rewarding this year if the conditions at official procurement centres are kept at a level more farmer-friendly. Unsurprisingly, the government's keenness to help growers get a fair price for their crop flies in the face of the realities on the ground. In that case, to incentivise farmers to sell paddy to the government's procurement officials, first, the rates offered for their grains should be considerably higher than the existing market prices.
Importantly, the procurement officials' attitude towards farmers selling their cereal should not be one of doing a favour to them. Farmers should be spared the trouble of maintaining moisture content of the paddy to be sold at the exact level as required by the government. Fourth, there should be a massive campaign about the launching of the paddy procurement initiative as many farmers often remain unaware of it. Since this season's food grain procurement programme is expected to continue till February next year, there is still time for improving the situation for paddy purchase by the food department.