Boro procurement encourages govt to procure Aman rice

Yasir WardadThe government will go for Aman rice procurement this year after the success in Boro rice procurement which will end on October 30 with a 0.8 million tonnes collection, officials said. "With the inspiration of Boro rice procurement the government is now thinking of collecting rice from the farmers and millers during Aman harvest next month to benefit farmers and to run the safety-net programmes", a high official of the Ministry of Food and Disaster Management (MoFDM) told the FE. He said: "This year government's Boro rice procurement will surpass its target by 0.2 million tonnes as the total procurement will be 0.8 million tonnes against the primary projection of 0.6 million tonnes." He said that in June, the ministry targeted to procure 0.6 million tonnes of rice, later the target was revised to 0.8 million tonnes following the bumper production of Boro and Aus rice. "The Aman season would also gift a bumper production according to agriculture department's prediction," he said. He said: 'To benefit the farmers as well as to run the government safety-net programmes we are going to procure rice from domestic sources". Director (Procurement) Md Badrul Hasan of the Food Department told the FE that the actual collection of Boro rice would be 0.818 million tonnes by October 30. He said, "An additional quantity of 18,000 tonnes of rice was added recently". He said, "Last year we got nearly 0.58 million tonnes of rice against the target of 1.2 million tonnes". "This year the target will surpass by 0.218 million tonnes", he said. The department started its Boro rice procurement operation from June 5 fixing the price of rice at Tk 29 per kg. Asked whether the government would purchase rice or paddy, a key official of the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) told the FE that the decision would be taken soon after an inter-ministerial meeting to be attended by representatives of MoA, MoFDM and the ministry of finance (MoF). Responding to a question he said, "The MoA would propose to purchase both paddy and rice". The official expressed his hope that the production of Aman would achieve its target of 13 million tonnes this year thanks to timely rain, smooth supply of agro-input and an overall sound weather. The food department's data showed that the public stock reached a record 1.481 million tonnes including 1.253 million tonnes of rice and 0.227 million tonnes of wheat in October. Besides the stock, it has another 0.1 million tonnes of 'floating' stock, the food department official said. Last year the government did not purchase rice from domestic sources in Aman season.