The government has announced the start of its Boro-procurement drive early next month (May), aiming to stabilise the market as paddy prices decline with the onset of harvesting.
With a bumper harvest expected and adequate public stocks already in place, the move is seen as a timely intervention to support farmers while maintaining food security.
The government will start procuring 1.8 million tonnes of paddy and rice, and 50,000 tonnes of wheat from May 3, according to an announcement came after a meeting of the Food Planning and Monitoring Committee (FPMC) on Wednesday.
The meeting was chaired by Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed. State Minister for Disaster and Relief Asadul Habib Dulu and State Minister for Food Abdul Bari were also present.
This year, procurement prices have been set at Tk 36 per kg for paddy, Tk 49 for parboiled rice, Tk 48 for white rice and Tk 36 for wheat.
The home minister said paddy and wheat procurement will continue from May 3 to August 31, while rice collection will run from May 15 to August 31.
He said the country currently has sufficient rice stocks, with about 1.7 million tonnes stored in government warehouses.
To ensure food security, the government must maintain a minimum stock of 1.3 million tonnes of rice. However, stocks can be increased to 2.4-2.5 million tonnes if required, depending on the situation.
The minister said the country's annual rice demand is around 42.4 million tonnes. With favourable weather this season, a bumper harvest is expected, reducing the need for rice imports at present.
However, wheat production remains much lower, only 0.8 to 1.0 million tonnes, compared to demand of about 8.0 million tonnes, making Bangladesh reliant on imports.
The government plans to procure 0.5 million tonnes of paddy, 1.2 million tonnes of parboiled rice and 0.1 million tonnes of white rice during the Boro season, along with 50,000 tonnes of wheat.
Prof Golam Hafeez Kennedy, an agricultural economist, said the production cost of Boro has increased by at least 20 per cent this year due to rising fertiliser prices and higher cultivation costs, compounded by fuel shortages.
He said procurement prices should have been adjusted in line with rising production costs.
However, he welcomed the government's move to announce procurement, noting that paddy prices have started falling with the beginning of harvesting in low-lying areas such as haor, beel and coastal regions.
The market is expected to become more active in the coming weeks, he added.
Bangladesh is expecting a record rice harvest in the current Boro season, although farmers are facing distress due to declining paddy prices.
The total cultivated Boro area has increased to about 5.05 million hectares, while the production target has been set at 22 million tonnes in the current fiscal year.
This follows an all-time high output of 21.3 million tonnes in the last fiscal year, according to the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) and the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).
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