Technology can change the world, it is often said. And the lives of the country's 1.5 crore farm families, who are often shorn of fair prices, are about to change with the government move to purchase paddy from them by way of a mobile application. 

The app, which is called Krishoker App, will be used to purchase paddy from farmers in all sadar upazilas in the upcoming boro harvesting season.

"Our aim was to ensure fair prices for farmers," said Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder at a press conference at his office yesterday.

The app has already been piloted in 16 upazilas by the Directorate General of Food in the just concluded aman procurement season: 30,000 tonnes of paddy was bought off 23,000 growers.

The food office bought the highest amount of aman paddy of 6.27 lakh tonnes in recent decades and achieved its buying target -- a first in 24 years, according data from the food ministry.

"Save for some minor errors, this was the first time we were able to buy such a big quantity of paddy. We hope we have become successful."

The paddy was bought directly from farmers based on a list of producers prepared by the agriculture ministry. The list had more than 135,000 names. From the list 23,000 were chosen at random. Some 25 teams monitored the purchase to ensure they were real growers and there was no political intervention or presence of middlemen.

Riding on the success, the food office will pilot paddy procurement through the mobile app in the remaining 48 sadar upazilas as well during the next boro harvest.

"We introduced the mobile app to ensure that we can reach out to more farmers and the initiative has paid off. The idea is to bring all the districts under the app-based procurement system in the next aman season," Majumder added.

A farmer can apply for selling paddy to public warehouses, track progress of his application and file complaint using the app.

Apart from paddy, the DG Food bought 3.37 lakh tonnes of parboiled rice from millers at Tk 36 per kg, and 43,400 tonnes of unboiled rice during the just concluded aman purchasing season.

In case of milled rice, the total amount of grain purchased during the aman harvest was 7.97 lakh tonnes, according to food ministry data.

With the aman purchase, the total amount of rice procured by the DG of Food including last year's boro stands at 22 lakh tonnes, food ministry data showed.

The government has allocated Tk 8,024 crore to buy 21.20 lakh tonnes of rice in the current fiscal year, according to the finance ministry. 

The government's purchase has started to have an impact on the prices of the staple grain in the market, said Agriculture Minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque.

At present, the price of coarse paddy is Tk 800 each maund and the prices of fine grain are between Tk 1,100 and Tk 1,200 a maund, much higher than before.

"Despite the rise, the prices of coarse grain are normal and there is no negative reaction from low-income people," Razzaque said, adding that the government is hopeful of buying paddy directly from growers in the next boro season.

Ensuring the percentage of moisture content in line with the required parameters of the food ministry has been the biggest obstacle for farmers in supplying grain to public warehouses and thus getting fair prices.

The agriculture ministry has bought adequate moisture measuring meters, which will be given to agricultural extension officials so that they can help farmers know if the moisture level in their grains is within the required level of 14 per cent.

As a result, officials at the local storage depots will not be able to refuse to buy paddy from the farmers.

"The government is determined to buy paddy from growers at any cost."

Razzaque went on to share his past experience as a food minister and said politically and socially influential people used to provide the grains to public warehouses depriving farmers.

He said he had once tried to buy wheat from farmers and found that influential people in the northwest districts of Thakurgaon, Panchagarh and Dinajpur were supplying the cereal by posing as farmers.

The food ministry also plans to buy rice from millers through the mobile app, said Food Secretary Mosammat Nazmanara Khanum.

Tushar Roy, a farmer from Dinajpur sadar, praised the government's initiative to buy paddy through the mobile app.

The grower signed up for the Krishoker App with the help of his relatives and received a text message later that he was selected in a lottery to sell paddy to the public food office.

He supplied the grain on the scheduled date and received the proceeds in his bank account just after delivery.

"This is a good system. Farmers will be benefitted if the government makes its purchases in this way. But the government should ensure that all the farmers can sell their grains to food offices gradually," he told The Daily Star by phone.

Razzaque said farmers who could not provide paddy to the government godowns in the just concluded aman purchase scheme would be able to supply in the next boro season.

The names of those who supplied aman paddy this time will not be put in the lottery in the next boro paddy purchase drive so that all farmers are equally benefitted, he added.

To ensure that real farmers get the opportunity to sell their produce to the government, the agriculture ministry is also preparing to provide farmers new cards as per an updated list, said Agriculture Secretary Md Nasiruzzaman.

Replying to a question on the progress in establishing 200 paddy silos, Majumder said the proposal for the Tk 6,000-crore project is now with the planning commission and its implementation might begin in the next fiscal year.