Boro procurement to miss target by 1.2m tonnes

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S M Jahangir
The government's current Boro procurement drive is facing impediments because of a marked difference between the official purchase rates and the open market prices of the foodgrains, triggered by a production shortfall.
As a result, the authority is set to miss the target of procuring 1.2 million tonnes of rice this year, pushing the official food stock at vulnerable level.
With the launch of its Boro purchase drive from May 1, the Department of Food has so far achieved about 50 per cent of the total target, sources said.
The government's internal Boro purchase is scheduled to continue until August 31 next.
Officials, however, ruled out any further scope for raising the foodgrain collection under the existing procurement prices.
They identified the big difference between the official procurement and open market prices as a major problem for achieving the rice collection target.
Despite an upward adjustment, the procurement rates of both rice and paddy still remain much lower than that prevalent in open markets.
Taking the price mismatch into consideration, the government had enhanced the procurement prices of rice to Tk 18 per kg from Tk 16 while the paddy price had been refixed at Tk 11.25 per kg from Tk 10 previously.
But the minimum price of coarse rice is Tk 20 in the open market. Against the backdrop, the private rice millers preferred selling their rice in the open market instead of the government.
Although the government has thrice extended the time limit for signing purchase agreements with the millers, such move has failed to get any significant response.
Terming the shortfall in the country's Boro output as yet another reason for the poor performance in the foodgrain collection, officials said a lower than expected level of Boro harvest had pushed up its prices in the open market.
According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the country's total Boro production has been estimated at 14.5 million tonnes in 2006-07 crop season, which was around 1.5 million tonnes lower than the target.
Considering the overall situation, an official source said: "It is hardly possible for us to meet the procurement target with the existing price structure."
The official also indicated that the poor local procurement could compel the government to import in order to maintain its buffer stock.
Responding to a query, the official said although the ongoing Boro procurement drive had kept the official rice stock at a 'satisfactory' level, the situation might deteriorate in the months ahead.
Without going into details, the official also admitted that the government's wheat stock had already reached a vulnerable level due to poor availability of local wheat for purchase.
The country's wheat production continued to decline over the years as last year's output reached 0.72 million tonnes against its internal requirement of nearly 3.0 million tonnes per annum.