The government is set to miss its revised ongoing Aman rice procurement target during the current season although its collection has lately shown an upward trend compared to that of the last season's achievement.
The government on November 27, 2013 had set the target to procure 0.2 million tonnes of Aman rice at Tk 30 per kilogramme (kg) from the millers for this season.
Later, the government decided to double its ongoing Aman rice procurement target to 0.4 million tonnes from the original 0.2 million tonnes due to positive response from the millers. Till Thursday, 0.330 million tones were procured with only six days remaining as government holidays fall on three other days of this month.
"It's simply impossible to attain the revised target in the remaining days of the month," said market sources.
The ongoing Aman rice procurement drive started on December 1, 2013, and is scheduled to end during this month (March 2014). The production cost of Aman rice this season is Tk 25.42 per kg and paddy Tk 17.02 per kg. The cost has increased by 2.32 per cent compared to that of the previous year due to increase in labour cost.
The government had procured 0.275 million tonnes of Aman rice against its procurement target of 0.3 million tonnes during the previous season.
The ongoing Aman rice procurement during the current season has surpassed 20 per cent so far, compared to that of the last season, thanks to good production that will help boost food stock and ensure fair prices to the growers.
"We have procured 0.330 million tonnes of Aman rice so far. We will be able to procure 0.375 millions tonnes of rice during the current fiscal," a high official of the Directorate General (DG) of Food (DGoF) told the FE.
The production of Aman crop has hit a record high, reaching 13.023 million tonnes in the current fiscal. During the last fiscal, production was (it was also a record until this year) 12.897 million tonnes from 5.61 million hectares while per hectare yield was 2.29 tonnes.
The Department of Food signed agreements with over 14,158 millers, mostly from Rangpur, Rajshahi and Khulna divisions, to supply Aman rice to the government warehouses.
This year per hectare yield has increased to 2.357 tonnes, thanks to cultivation of local high-yielding rice varieties (HYV).
According to the Food Directorate, Bangladesh's average annual demand for food grains -- mainly rice and wheat -- is about 35.0 million tonnes of which rice comprises 31.0 million tonnes.
The public food storage capacity has been developed for 1.8 million tonnes recently. The country's stock should be between 1.5 to 1.6 million tonnes. Of this, rice should be 1.0 million tonnes. And with the Aman procurement drive, public storage will increase, according to the Food Department.
The total food grains stock in the country is now 1.93 millions tonnes. Out of the quantity, 0.82 million tonnes are rice while 0.273 million tonnes are wheat.
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