Immediate govt declaration on Aman procurement sought

Yasir WardadExperts and farmer representatives have urged the government for an immediate declaration on procuring both paddy and rice in this Aman season to ensure fair prices to the farmers. The production cost of Aman rice has increased by 13.64 per cent this year, according to Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) estimates. The production cost of Aman rice this year has surpassed the cost of the last season due to increase in input costs, DAE officials told the FE. A key official of the DAE said that the estimation of the rice production cost in this Aman season has been completed recently by the department. Statistics show that the cost of Aman rice is Tk 25 per kg, a 13.64 per cent increase compared to that of the last year when it was Tk 22 per kg. The official said that per kg of paddy costs Tk 15 which was less than Tk 14 last year. "Astonishingly, the cost of Aman has also surpassed that of Boro rice this year by 4.17 per cent", the official said, requesting anonymity. When asked Director of DAE Field Service Wing Md Eunus Ali told the FE that the increased costs of agricultural inputs were responsible for the hike in the production cost. He said: "Usually the cost for Aman is much lower than that of Boro, as Boro needs high input-based cultivation. But this year the production cost of Aman rice has increased due to hike in labour cost, ploughing and milling." According to the DAE, during this Aman season the daily labour cost has increased by Tk 40 per person compared to that of the last year and the ploughing cost has also increased by Tk 98.80 per hectare. The DAE estimation shows that the milling cost has also increased by Tk 0.25 per kg. Economist and former vice-chancellor of Jahangirnagar University Prof Khandker Mustahidur Rahman said: "The public procurement makes a notable impact on the market price as people always consider this declaration to be 'unique' ". Emphasising increase in storage capacity of the government Prof Mustahid said: "The government should increase warehouse capacity to ensure healthy procurement parallel to the growth of production and population in the country". General Secretary of Krishok Dal (farmer wing of Bangladesh Nationalist Party) Md Samsuzzaman Dudu stressed that the government should make no delay in declaring the Aman procurement (both paddy and rice) as the harvest will start within two weeks. "The benefit of the procurement of this Boro season went to the millers as most of the farmers have no access in mills to husk their paddy," Mr Dudu said. Bangladesh Bhoomihin Samity (association of landless farmers) Secretary Subal Sarker claimed that the daily labour cost increased by Tk 100 per person and the ploughing cost by Tk 500 per hectare. He said considering the increased input cost this season, the government should fix the price of paddy and rice at least at Tk 20 and Tk 32 per kg respectively. Directorate General of Food (DGoF) director of procurement Md Badrul Hasan told the FE that the directorate completed its Boro and Aus rice procurement Sunday (October 30) with a collection of 0.818 million tonnes of rice from more than 8,000 millers. He said, "It is the first time in the country's history that procurement has surpassed its target". Food directorate record shows that the public stock reached a record 1.481million tonnes of cereal in October. The government is expecting to get nearly 13.3 million tonnes of rice from Aman harvest taking place this month, according to DAE.