Government to procure Aman at Tk 26 per kg directly from farmers

The government will procure 600,000 tonnes of Aman paddy at Tk 26 per kg directly from farmers for the first time .

The procurement will run from Nov 20 to Feb 28, Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder told reporters after a meeting on Thursday.

“We’ll buy Aman paddy from the farmers, which has not been done before,” he said.

Apart from the Aman paddy, the government will purchase 300,500 tonnes of boiled rice at Tk 36 a kg and 50,000 tonnes of non-boiled or Atap rice at Tk 35 per kg from the millers, said Majumder.

The government currently has over 1.2 million tonnes in reserve, according to the minister.

This year’s paddy production cost is Tk 21.50 per kg but the government will procure the produces at higher rates. The government has set a target of producing 5.3 tonnes of Aman paddy this year.

“The local administrations will finalise the list after scrutinising a primary list of farmers prepared by the agriculture ministry. If the list becomes larger, farmers will be selected through a lottery,” said the minister.