Traders reap benefits as paddy sells at low prices

Traders reap benefits as paddy sells at low prices

It is not the farmers, but the traders are reaping the benefits of public procurement of rice as the peasants are selling paddy at much lower prices than the government's fixed rate in this Boro season due to the present procurement system.

Rice millers and traders have already purchased good amounts of paddy from farmers at Tk 350-450 per maund for milling and selling to the government, which started buying rice at Tk 22 per kg, non-boiled (atap) rice at Tk 21 while paddy at Tk 14 from May 1.

Targeting 12 lakh tonnes to be procured by September, the government will buy 1.5 lakh tonnes paddy, 50,000 to 60,000 tonnes non-boiled rice while the rest will be normal rice. By this time, the government has procured only around 400 tonnes of paddy.

As per government price, each maund paddy should fetch Tk 560, but farmers in the major rice-growing northern districts are selling paddy at around Tk 400 while at Tk 450 in Comilla.

Though the government has fixed the comparatively high procurement prices this season to safeguard farmers' interests, agronomists said the subsidy will mainly go to the traders' pockets as the government is procuring rice and paddy mainly from the millers and traders.

Farmers said they are compelled to sell paddy to the traders and millers during the peak harvesting period to pay back their loans, which they took to buy agricultural inputs.