The government’s ensuing food grain procurement process is likely to face difficulties as it does not have adequate warehouse spaces to store the food. Keeping coronavirus crisis under consideration, the government has set a target to procure 21 lakh metric tonnes (MTs) of food grains in the current monsoon season.
At the same time, to ensure food security and fair prices for the farmers, more paddy, boiled rice, atap (sun roasted) rice and wheat will be collected in the current boro season than in the previous year. However, due to plans for storing increased amount of grains in the face of the current corona crisis, the total storage capacity would exceed the government's target to procure and amass the grains.
According to the Department of Food, there are a total of 5 Silos, 13 Central Storage Depots (CSD) and 631 Local Supply Depots (LSD) across the country. The current capacity of these food warehouses is about 19.50 lakh MTs. At present, the government has 17 lakh MTs of food grains in its warehouses.
About the food procurement, Agriculture Secretary Md Nasiruzzaman told Bangladesh Post, “The government has decided to purchase 8 lakh MTs paddy, 10 lakh MTs rice, 1.5 lakh MTs atap rice and 75,000 MTs wheat this year. Of this, boiled rice will be purchased at Tk 36 per kg, atap rice at Tk 35 per kg, wheat at Tk 28 per kg and paddy will be purchased at Tk 26 per kg.”
About the warehouse crisis, he said that they will take decision after coordinating with directorate general of food in this regard. But officials concerned are sceptical about whether it will be possible to keep the targeted amount of food grains as there is lack of warehouse.
Boro paddy collection will start from April 26 and rice from May 8. The collection will end on August 31. Wheat collection has started from April 15 and it will continue to June 30. To increase the capacity of the warehouse, the government took initiative to construct 200 silos for storing paddy. The capacity of each silo would be 5,000MTs. A total of 10 lakh MTs of paddy can be stored in these silos.
Although the construction of silos started in May 2019, it was not possible to complete them due to legal complications. In this regard, Director General of Directorate General of Food Sarwar Mahmud said, “The OMS programme to sell 74,000 tons of rice at the rate of Tk 10 is going on which will continue in the next three months. Besides, rice has been distributed through various relief programs. So, the warehouse is also becoming empty to accommodate more grains.”
He also said, “The government has a plan to build 170 warehouses. Apart from this, old warehouses are being repaired quickly and made suitable for storing food grains.”
Meanwhile, the government will purchase boro paddy from farmers in 22 upazilas through a mobile App now being piloted. The Ministry of Food has sent a letter to the Directorate General of Food approving these upazilas to collect paddy through the app.
Out of 22 upazilas, there are 16 earlier selected upazilas in the list. The upazilas are Gazipur Sadar, Narsingdi Sadar, Manikganj Sadar, Kishoreganj Sadar, Rajbari Sadar, Tangail Sadar, Mymensingh Sadar, Jamalpur Sadar, Sherpur Sadar, Bhola Sadar, Naogaon Sadar, Bogra Sadar, Rangpur Sadar, Dinajpur Sadar, Jhenaidah Sadar, Jashore Sadar, Habiganj Sadar, Moulvibazar Sadar, Brahmanbaria Sadar, Comilla Sadar South and Barisal Sadar.
According to the Directorate General of Food, farmers will first register with the information. If the registration is approved, he can apply for selling paddy. The application will be submitted to the database.
Later, the Upazila Committee headed by the Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) will hold a lottery among the applicants. The farmers, who will be selected through lottery, will receive SMS on these issues. A waiting list will also be prepared. If selected farmers do not sell, paddy will be taken from the waiting list.