Agriculture Minister Dr Abdur Razzak on Thursday said the farmers are getting fair price in selling paddy in the country alongside keeping paddy at their homes successfully, reports BSS.
“The farmers are getting good price in selling paddy as Boro paddy has been planted on 47.54447 lakh hectares of land across the country this year,” he told reporters.
The minister made the remarks while exchanging views with reporters online from the conference room of the ministry here on the price of Boro paddy and the progress of paddy harvesting.
The minister further said that there are different types of market prices of paddy in different regions, adding that besides, there is a difference in the prices of wet and dry paddies and coarse or fine ones.
About paddy harvesting, he said 77 percent, 73 percent and 62 percent of paddy harvesting have been completed in Cumilla, Khulna and Jashore regions respectively.
In order to ensure fair price of paddy and food security of low income people of the country during the coronavirus crisis, he said, the government will buy around 22.25 lakh metric tonnes of food grains, including 8 lakh metric tonnes of paddy, 1.5 lakh tonnes of atap rice, 10 lakh metric tonnes of boiled rice and 75 thousand metric tonnes of wheat.
In order to carry out this activity smoothly, a list of paddy selling farmers all over the country has been prepared under the supervision of the Upazila Agriculture Officers and it has been handed over to the Food Department, he added.
In order to facilitate the sale of paddy of the farmers, 2,673 humidifier- machines have been provided at the union level in the country, he continued.
For the farmers, the minister said, a subsidy of Taka 9,000 crore is being implemented in the agriculture sector for rebate of electricity bill for irrigation, including fertilizer.
A special loan incentive of Tk 19,500 crore is being provided to farmers at an interest rate of only four per cent to offset the overall loss in the agricultural sector due to the outbreak of coronavirus, he added.
Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture Md Nasiruzzaman, Additional Secretary Md Abdur Rauf and Department of Agricultural Marketing (DAM) Director General Mohammad Yousuf were present on the occasion.