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Wheat procurement

Buy from farmers, silos briefed

REAZ AHMAD
Food officials have been instructed not to buy wheat from non-farmers and old stocks.
The instruction is part of a new policy for this year's official wheat procurement drive that started on Saturday.
"Wheat will be procured from homegrown fresh stock (grown in 2003) and real farmers," says the new policy.
The government has laid out the strict, cautious policy as a safeguard against irregularities found in last year's wheat purchase.
"Farmers will benefit from the
new policy and the government will be able to build a good reserve," a high food official told The Daily Star yesterday.
The previous policy did not have any clear prohibition on purchase of wheat from nonfarmers and old stocks.
Traders with strong political backing sold substandard Indian wheat to the government silos last year and regulatory loopholes were blamed for the scam. A group of food officials was also accused of conniving with the traders.
Eight government officials, including the then secretary of the food ministry and the director general of the food directorate,
were made officers on special duty (OSDs) as part of disciplinary action.
Three of them were forced into retirement for irregularities in the Tk 90 crore purchases.
The prime minister admonished a lawmaker of the ruling BNP for alleged involvement in the irregularities.
Two probe bodies, formed on instructions of the prime minister and the food minister amid criticism, submitted their reports over six months ago. But the government is yet to reveal the findings.
The strict measures of the new policy aim at checking irregularities during the purchase drive from March 15 to June 30.
The government has lowered its procurement target from three lakh metric tons to two lakh metric tons.
The policy also makes it mandatory for food officials to closely monitor the purchase drive.
The officials have been asked to keep the purchase ceiling at a maximum of five metric tons from each to spread price supports to as many farmers as possible. This year, the government has increased the price from Tk 9,000 a quintal to Tk 9,250.
The officials have been instructed to send daily reports to upazila controllers of food who will tally procurement accounts and report to district controllers of food.
Currently, the government runs short of food reserves with its granaries having only five lakh metric tons of rice and wheat.