Stabilise rice market

Rice prices in the local market is remarkably high despite the fact that the country has seen record production. Also, there is regular export of rice. The government’s decision to import rice was appropriate as it was important to keep the market stable during the pandemic. A report published in This newspaper on Friday stated that Bangladesh produced at least 12 lakh tonnes more Boro rice compared to the previous season. The country imported 15.36 lakh tonnes of rice in 2021, the second-highest import in the last two decades.

All these suggest that the price of this staple of nearly 170 million people should have been stable by now. Yet we are perplexed by the fact that the price of rice remains high. The question is why that has happened. In any open market economy, it is the market factors that should dictate the price. There are reasons to believe that has not happened here. Experts say that there is shortage of the grain in government storage and the tendency of storing more by vested quarters against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic is always there. This syndicate hoarded more grains to fleece customers by creating an artificial crisis. Food ministry sources say that the government's rice stock has fallen to a 13-year low of 300,000 tonnes, whereas experts suggest keeping at least 1.25 million tonnes of grains in stock. Despite achieving national self-sufficiency in food grain production through the use of high-yielding seed and appropriate technology, the food price still remains high in the country.

There is a history here of millers, middlemen and wholesale traders manipulating the whole process of procurement and marketing to make sure there is a hefty profit for them. They have never shown any qualms regarding the practice and even the pandemic has not been an exception to the rule. There are allegations that the millers exert a pressure on the government not to what they term as interfering with the trading system of food grains. There were seasons when cultivators were forced to sell their produce incurring losses. The government's procurement drives have often been half-hearted and failed to give farmers the benefit they so rightly deserved. In spite of having bumper production and continued import price hike of rice is unusual. It calls for intensive inquiry to find out the reasons for the unusual price hike. The food minister has repeatedly stressed that he would not tolerate any manipulation over rice. Apparently the concerned persons and institutions have not heeded to his warning.

Rice is not just the staple food of the Bengalis. The food is central to Bengali identity. Many things have changed in the lives of Bangladeshis over the years but rice remains one constant. Rice contributes two-thirds of the total caloric need of the country and is the source of half of the country's protein intake. A Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics study reveals that crops and horticulture's share is about 10 per cent of the gross domestic product, with half coming from rice.

Rice has a long shelf-life and can be stocked and the price can potentially be manipulated. There are about 800 semi-automatic and automatic rice mills operating in the country. While the agencies concerned have so far failed to detect the presence of any syndicate as such there remains a possibility of millers acting in unison and keep the mill gate price high.

It is vitally important to look for both short and long-term factors behind the abnormal rise in the market price of rice. The government must act now to make sure that the country faces no shortage of rice. For their performance in cultivation of a bumper crop farmers should be amply rewarded. It is the responsibility of the government to identify the actual culprits and to address the instability in the market. Now is the time to monitor the market and take stringent measures against the manipulators for ensuring that the rice price remains stable.