TDS Desk:

The Food Department has failed to achieve paddy procurement target for Rangpur district this season.

The deadline for the IRRI-Boro procurement drive ended on August 31 which began on May 7.

The millers and farmers will not be given further fresh dates to supply paddy and rice to the government warehouses, according to the officials of the department.

The department had procured a total of 5775.56 tonnes of paddy and 32187. 22 tonnes of rice from the registered millers and farmers in the district.

According to the Rangpur Regional Food Controller Office sources, the department had set a target of procuring some 8,862 tonnes of paddy and 31,298 tonnes of rice with an additional 8,127.71 tonnes.

The target, however, was not met during the last year in 2023. Some 1,262. 44 tonnes of paddy and 38,598 tonnes of rice were procured against the target of 11,062 tonnes of paddy and 40,208 tonnes of rice.

Md Samsul Alam Babu, Rangpur City Mill Owners’ Samite general secretary and central committee joint secretary said, he supplied 1,700 tonnes of paddy during the procurement drive. Of them, 500 tonnes are for husking mills and the rest are for all auto-rice mills.

‘’I was getting profit at the beginning of the supply, later I had to face losses as the paddy price hiked in the local markets,’’ he also said.

The present market price of paddy is about Tk 1,250 per maund while he bought earlier at Tk 1,050 per maund. Moreover, it costs around Tk 45 to prepare per kg of rice. The additional costs however include -transportation and labour wages.

Despite the appeal of the millers and traders, the authority did not extend the deadline of the procurement drive this year due to a changeover in the government.

A food officer of the Rangpur Regional Food Controller Office, Nikhil Chandra Barmon, said the target of rice procurement in the district was met, but the additional target was not achieved.

He also admitted that the target of paddy procurement in the district could not be achieved during the stipulated time. The farmers could not dry the paddy properly during on time which has hampered the department’s paddy procurement target.

Moreover, increasing paddy prices in the open markets at the end of the season can be blamed for the failure to meet the procurement target. Thus, farmers and millers felt reluctant to supply paddy in the government’s purchase centres due to the exorbitant price situation.

The number of contact millers of food grains procurement in the district was 453. Of them auto rice mill number was 24 and the husking mill was 429 who made contact with the department for supplying both paddy and rice to the government depots at procurement rates. The government had fixed the paddy rate at Tk 32 and rice at Tk 45 in this season while it was Tk 30 and 44 respectively last year.

Some 1, 31,850 hectares of land were brought under boro farming in the district last year and the production was very satisfactory, he added.

Contacted, Rangpur Regional Controller of Food, Jahirul Islam said, the IRRI- BORO procurement drive ended this year. Farmers and millers are not getting extended dates for the grain supply this season as the department will not likely announce further dates.