Rice procurement yet to begin in Sunamganj Haor

Rice procurement is yet to begin in eight upazilas of Sunamganj Haor region even after eight days passed since the inauguration of the programme.

Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumdar virtually inaugurated the paddy procurement programme on May 7 in Sunamganj district. But paddy has not been bought officially since then. Due to this, farmers are selling rice at low prices in the local market.

This year the government introduced an agricultural app through which the paddy will be bought. According to the agricultural office, the work of selecting farmers to buy paddy from has not been completed yet. The farmers are also less interested in applying through the agricultural app.

About 13.5 lakh tonnes of paddy has been harvested in the district this Boro season. The government has set a target of buying 17,483 tonnes of paddy.

Even though the amount is low compared to the overall production, the marginal farmers of the Haor region get a fair price of paddy from the government.

According to the latest data, so far 796 farmers in Sunamganj Sadar, 1,076 farmers in Tahirpur, 1,309 farmers in Jamalganj, 822 farmers in Derai, 108 farmers in Chhatak, 384 farmers in Dowarabazar and no farmers have applied in Shantiganj.

Jamalganj Upazila Controller of Food Md Shahab Uddin said there are about 35,000 farmers who are suitable for participating in the programme.

In regard to the applicants being so few, this official said the number of farmers applying is still low as the process has only begun, but they expect more to apply.

Journalist Waliullah Sarkar of Jamalganj said the farmers consider it a hassle to apply to sell rice through the mobile app. They prefer to simply sell rice at a lower price of Tk 850-950 instead of the Tk 1,200 offered by the government.

Many farmers often forget their passwords or the recovery mobile number provided for registration. A NID number can be used only once to register for an account.

Government officials in food warehouses are unable to help regarding applications if they cannot provide the correct mobile number that they registered with.

Abdus Sattar, a farmer of Rajanagar in Derai upazila, said, “Using a mobile app to apply for the rice procurement programme is a hassle for the farmers. Hence, many are forced to sell their paddy at a low price as they cannot store it.”

Abdul Hekim, a farmer of Hatamara in Jamalganj, said, “I do not know how to apply for paddy in the godown, but I will buy paddy in Madhyanagar and sell it.”

Abdul Hakim, a farmer of Hatamara in Jamalganj, said, “I do not know how to apply to sell rice at the government warehouse. I will sell my harvest at Madhyanagar market when the Haor fills up.”

There are over 3.7 lakh paddy farmers in the district but only a few of them have registered through the agricultural app.

According to District Food Office, 796 out of 3,761 farmers registered in Sunamganj Sadar Upazila, 1,076 out of 2,789 farmers in Tahirpur, 1,309 out of 8,576 farmers in Jamalganj, 822 out of 2,686 farmers in Derai, 108 out of 289 farmers in Chhatak and 384 out 479 registered farmers in Dowarabazar have applied to sell paddy this season.

Apart from this, none of the 762 farmers registered in Shantiganj have applied to sell paddy. 14,889 farmers applied from Dharmapasha in the traditional way.

In Jagannathpur, only 1,548 farmers have applied to sell paddy and among them, 518 people were selected in the lottery. Till Sunday, 81 tonnes of paddy have been purchased in the upazila.

All of the 1,139 farmers who applied from Shalla upazila can sell paddy. Some 24 tonnes of paddy have been purchased till Sunday.

District Food Controller Md Moinul Islam Bhuya said they are trying their best to buy paddy and rice according to the target.

“Paddy procurement has begun in some upazilas of the district. Within two-three days, the purchase of paddy will be started in all upazilas from random selection via the mobile application,” he said.