Despite a surplus rice production, the food ministry has sought advice from the prime minister on importing rice saying that it may not procure enough rice to keep the rice market stable in the COVID-19 crisis along with the floods.
The food ministry has recently sent a letter to the Prime Minister’s Office as rice millers apparently remained reluctant in supplying rice to the government at the current price.
Nearly three months into the boro rice and paddy procurement, the food ministry could achieve only 28 per cent of its rice procurement target and 12 per cent of the paddy procurement target.
The government planned to buy 11.50 lakh tonnes of rice from millers at Tk 36 a kg and 8 lakh tonnes of paddy at Tk 26 a kg by next month.
‘We shared with the Prime Minister our fear that we may not meet the procurement target and sought her advice on building rice stock through import,’ food secretary Mosammat Nazmanara Khanum told New Age.
The food ministry move came after it announced that it was considering slashing the import duty on rice if the procurement did not pick up soon.
Agricultural economists have long blamed the cumbersome procurement process behind farmers’ reluctance in selling paddy to the government.
Agricultural economist Jahangir Alam demanded an explanation from the government as to why it failed to procure rice from handpicked rice millers.
‘The government should have moved to procure through open tendering rather than opting for import,’ said Jahangir.
Bangladesh produced 3.80 crore tonnes of rice, far above its demand for around 3 crore tonnes, he said.
‘There is no justification to import when there is a surplus production,’ Jahangir said.
He said that the government was planning to spend money on rice import when the country’s farmers were in need of cash more than ever before because of the coronavirus crisis and the devastating floods in the north.
The worsening floods in the northern districts are making it difficult for farmers to preserve rice at home as deluge overtook vast areas.
Economist Md Asaduzzaman said that by repeatedly talking about import the government was frightening the farmers to give away rice at a cheaper rate.
‘It gives farmers the message that time is running out for them to sell rice,’ said Asaduzzaman.
He said that the rice millers would take advantage of the situation, convincing farmers of selling rice at cheaper prices to secure their profit margin.
Rice growers hardly get return on their investment because of their complete dependence on middlemen to sell their crop.
But agricultural economists have always advised the government against buying rice from the millers to avoid many middlemen pocketing benefits that should go to farmers.
They warned that a continued fall in income might discourage farmers from growing the Aman paddy next season.
Asad said that the food ministry should not be in a hurry to import rice because there was enough rice in Bangladesh.
‘It may not be in the government’s hand but it is in the country. The government should find a way of buying the rice,’ he said.
The government had a stock of 12.04 lakh tonnes of food grains until July 12.
The food secretary said that the stock should be around 20 lakh tonnes to keep the market stable.
The rice millers have been demanding an increase in the rice price by Tk 4 per kg.
