Sohel Parvez

Around a month has passed since programmes to procure Boro paddy and rice began, but the government has been able to buy a very insignificant quantity against its target this year, raising concerns that efforts to provide food to the poor amid the Covid-19 crisis might suffer a setback without adequate stock.

Until Wednesday, the Directorate General of Food (DGF) purchased only 7,750 tonnes of Boro paddy from farmers, which is less than one percent of the target of 800,000 tonnes.

The drive, which began on April 26, would end on August 31.

Besides, the food office could procure only six percent of the target of 10 lakh tonnes of parboiled rice from millers after the drive was launched on May 7 to build a healthy public food stock and allow farmers to get fair prices for their main crop.

Food officials said farmers are interested in selling their produce in the market as prices there are higher this year compared to the previous one.

Also, they were opting not to supply the crop to public warehouses as the government does not buy paddy having over 14 percent moisture. While selling the paddy in the market, farmers do not have to remain bothered about the moisture issue, they said.

Rainfall, Cyclone Amphan and Eid holidays are also to blame, they added.

In the face of the sluggish procurement pace, the DGF, in a letter last week, directed its field offices to strengthen the purchase efforts to maintain a sound food stock at public warehouses.

It said the government this year fixed its highest ever paddy procurement target -- double of the last year’s Boro paddy purchase -- apart from buying parboiled and sunburn rice, but the expected procurement speed has not been achieved yet.

“It is not desirable at all,” DGF Director General Sarwar Mahmud said in the letter.

The directive came at a time when the public food stock is declining owing to increased distribution of rice and wheat flour among low-income, poor and vulnerable people to protect them from hunger during the days of Covid-19 crisis.