As only a couple of weeks are left, the government is set to miss its food grain procurement target for Boro season, posing a challenge to build-up of its overall official food stock.
The government had been able to buy 1.23 million tonnes of staple grains until August 01 against the target of 1.9 million tonnes, said officials.
The government had set a target to buy 1.0 million tonnes of parboiled rice at Tk 40 a kg, 0.15 million tonnes of white rice (non-boiled white or atap) at Tk 39 a kg and 0.65 million tonnes of paddy at Tk 27 kg from the domestic market in Boro season this year (April-August).
The asking rate of rice was raised by Tk 4.0 a kg and paddy by Tk 1.0 a kg by the government this Boro season from that of last year.
It also aimed to buy 0.1 million tonnes of wheat at Tk 28 a kg during the Boro purchasing period, according to the Directorate General of Food (DGoF).
DGoF started procuring paddy officially from April 28 last and so far purchased 48 per cent of the target or 0.316 million tonnes until August 01.
It began its rice purchase from May 07 last and had been able to buy 0.79 million tonnes of parboiled rice against the target of 1.0 million tonnes and 0.06 million tonnes of white rice against the aim for 0.15 million tonnes until August 01.
However, wheat procurement target was achieved as the directorate bought 0.103 million tonnes at Tk 28 per kg.
An official at the DGoF said paddy procurement target might not be met by the deadline of August 16.
He also said farmers were not interested in supplying paddy now despite the offer of Tk 27 a kg, as the market prices of coarse hybrid paddy stayed almost at the same level (Tk 26-27 a kg).
He added medium and finer quality paddy was selling at Tk 30 to 33 a kg in the mainstream market; so there was no hope to get paddy in the coming days.
Additional Director of DGoF Md Moniruzzaman said they were hoping to attain the rice procurement target by the deadline as millers assured them of supplying the grain at the set price.
Asked, he said after achieving the rice purchase goal, the food ministry might take the decision whether to buy more rice instead of paddy, in view of the public food storage, local production and market trend.
He also said: "The public food storage is now strategically in a very good position compared to the previous months of the current calendar year as we have 1.56 million tonnes of food grain now, of which nearly 1.4 million tonnes are rice."
He added that the government imported 0.85 million tonnes of rice so far this year and another 0.45 million tonnes would be bought further.
However, Secretary of the Bangladesh Auto Major Husking Mills Owners Association KM Layek Ali told the FE that prices of rice remained almost static for the last one month.
He mentioned coarse rice was now selling at Tk 40-41, medium Tk 48-49 and finer rice at Tk 53-57 a kg in Kushtia, Rajshahi, Naogaon, Bogura, Pabna, Rangpur and Dinajpur milling hubs and wholesale markets.
However, prices of the same varieties were Tk 50-52, Tk 55-58 and TK 65-78 a kg in Dhaka now, according to groceries.
Prof Hasneen Jahan of the Department of Agricultural Economics, Bangladesh Agricultural University said as demand for the staple hit its peak during this pandemic, both government and millers were in a hurry to meet their purchase target resulting in a hike in prices of the staple.
She also said the government's buffer stock of food should be at least 1.5 million tonnes to tackle any possible shortage during this pandemic.
She mentioned the food directorate should buy more grains than its target to maintain an equilibrium in the grain market.
Dr Jahan also pointed out that apart from millers and traders, even big farmers also stored paddy in large volumes.
She said the government could now decide to buy rice from both millers and farmers which could encourage many solvent peasants to supply the item to the government.
"And most importantly, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and the Department of Agricultural Extension jointly should deliver authentic data on this year's Boro rice production immediately so that policymakers could frame a timely import policy for the private sector," she further said.
Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) Vice-president SM Nazer Hossain said as coarse rice prices crossed Tk 50 a kg in the cities, the government should immediately permit the private sector to import rice for the next three months to help reduce the price of the staple which is now beyond the reach of many poor amid the pandemic.
Open Market Sale (OMS) of rice by the government should be expanded largely to bring most of the poor families under the programme to prevent starvation and hidden hunger during this pandemic-induced lockdown.
He also put special emphasis on random market monitoring involving the commerce, food and agriculture ministries.
However, the agriculture ministry is expecting the highest ever 20.5 million tonnes of rice from the Boro season.
Both the government and the private sector imported 1.5 million tonnes of rice combinedly between January and July of this year which is the highest in three years, according to the food ministry.
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