Govt fails to meet Boro procurement target

The government has failed to achieve its procurement target of 17.1 lakh tonnes of rice and paddy during the Boro season by July 31.

Only 10.27 lakh tonnes have been procured -- 54 per cent of the total target

of 19 lakh tonnes set to be obtained by Aug 15, according to the Food Ministry data.

In the last season, the ministry attempted to collect around 19 lakh tonnes of Boro rice but managed 9.44 lakh tonnes.

“We’re trying to meet the goal that could be missed out. Talks are underway with stakeholders,” Food Secretary Mosammat Nazmanara Khanum told The Business Post. “Probably we cannot meet the paddy collection target but will be able to do so for rice within August 15.”

The ministry of food planned to procure 11.5 lakh tonnes of rice and 6.5 lakh tonnes of paddy from farmers and millers. After that, it went for another 1.38 lakh tonnes of rice to meet the ministry’s demand.

The ministry is able to collect 8.10 lakh tonnes of rice and 3.17 lakh tonnes of paddy from domestic sources and it is far away from the target.

Impact on government stocks

Now the food ministry has 11.97 lakh tonnes of rice in stock which is not enough, according to Bangladesh Agriculture Research Council.

The council recommends that the government collect a minimum 10 per cent of the total production.

In the peak season of Boro, the price of all kinds of rice in the retail market is Tk 7 to Tk 10 higher than previous time.

“Our present stock is enough for Aman season. We always produce record but the problem being we do not have an actual data of our annual demand. I hope the retail price will come down,” said Nazmanara Khanum.

However, the Ministry of Agriculture declared a record Boro harvest of 2.8 lakh tonnes. On the other hand, Bangladesh imports around 15 lakh tonnes of rice which is the second-highest in the last 20 years.

In this situation, the food ministry decided in principle to import 10 lakh tonnes of rice to bring stability to the domestic market.

“We sent our recommendations to the National Board of Revenue to approve the import permit. We suggested that the NBR reduce import duty which is now 68 per cent,” said the food secretary.

Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of Policy Research Institute, said the government should increase stock through import since this year’s better production cannot leave an impact on the domestic market.

“The price in the domestic market is higher than the government rate. So why will the miller give rice to the government?” he posed a question.

The researcher explained that the government should boost stock so it can go to a safe zone to use the food stuff in need as well as to support poor people.

According to Badrul Alam, former director general, Directorate of Food, “We need an assessment before rice import. If the government wants to import rice, now is the time as the price is low in India.”

The price will increase very soon, he warned.