The government will procure Boro rice at Tk 38, paddy at Tk 26 and coarse rice at Tk 37 per kg in the upcoming Boro season, said Food Minister Quamrul Islam.
The government has set a target to procure 10 lakh metric tonnes of rice, including coarse rice and paddy, during the upcoming Boro procurement season across the country, he said while taking to reporters after a meeting of Food Planning and Procurement Committee at the secretariat on Sunday.
Finance Minister AMA Abdul Muhith, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed and Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury were present at the meeting.
This year, the minister said, no wheat will be procured from farmers.
Quamrul Islam said the Boro procurement process will begin on May 2 and continue until August 31.
Last year, he said, the government procured Boro rice at Tk 34 per kg while paddy at Tk 24 and wheat at Tk 28 per kg.
The government this year has set the production cost of per kg rice at Tk 36 per kg, said the minister adding, “We’ve set a target to get 1.90 crore tonnes of rice due to bumper boro paddy production.”
Quamrul said the current stock of crops in government silos is 12.97 lakh mts, which is the highest in the last 20 years.
Claiming that the rice price is stable in the local market, the minister said the coarse rice is now selling at Tk 42.44 per kg in Dhaka, while at Tk 37 per kg each in Rajshahi, Rangpur and Chattogram divisions, Tk 36 in Sylhet divisions, Tk 40 in Khulna and Tk 38 in Barishal divisions.
Responding to a question about rice price hike, Quamrul Islam, said, “Rice prices are higher as its production cost is gradually increasing while the wage of day-labourers is also on the rise.”
