The government on Thursday fixed procurement prices of rice at Tk 22 a kg and of paddy at Tk 14 to collect a total of 3 lakh tonnes of rice in the next Aman season.
Poor and marginal farmers and sharecroppers keep facing trouble as they need to buy rice for higher prices after having sold the rice they would produce for low prices at the time of harvest. Market source said farmers were buying boro for prices between Tk 540 and Tk 600 a maund (37.3kg) but they sold it for prices between Tk 400 and Tk 430 soon after harvest. Most of the poor and marginal farmers said they were forced to sell their produces for prices lower than their production cost to meet their needs and repay loans they had taken before harvest in May.
Several thousand people from two unions of Jaldhaka upazila besieged Nilphamari-Jaldhaka road at Tengonmari point yesterday demanding rice under vulnerable group feeding (VGF) program for them.
The government has banned export of all varieties of rice for the next six months to increase supply to the local market and curb prices.
The prices of some essential items especially edible oil, lentil and some other varieties of vegetables were showing an upward trend in the city's kitchen markets yesterday.
Agricultural experts, economists and farmers on Monday doubted that the farmers would be benefited by the relatively high prices of boro rice paid by the government’s procurers in the absence of a proper mechanism.
The government will buy Boro paddy at Tk 14 per kilogram and rice at Tk 22 per kg from the first of May, setting the total procurement target at 12 lakh tons.
Retail prices of rice of almost all varieties reduced by around Tk 2 a kilogram over the past one week as wholesale prices also declined by up to Tk 4 a kg with hoarders rushing to sell off their stocks, a New Age investigation found Friday.
13.42 lakh tonnes of boro from 3.6 lakh hectares of lands are expected in Barisal Agriculture Region (BAR), sources close to Directorate of Agriculture Extension (DAE) said.
Price of coarse and fine varieties of rice, eggs and lentil remained unchanged in the city's kitchen markets yesterday while those of edible oil, flour (ata) and winter vegetables are coming down.
Customers in the city markets hoped that the prices of essentials commodities would come down further if the government maintained its ongoing 'vigilance' on market price.
