Govt working on paddy procurement policy
Stating that a huge resentment is prevailing among farmers for not getting fair price of paddy, Agriculture Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque yesterday in parliament said the government has taken various steps to solve the issue.
“There has been serious discussions at national level that the farmers did not get due price… It’s a very important issue. It cannot be accepted that people would not get fair price by cultivating paddy,” he said.
Replying to a supplementary question, the minister also said, “We want farmers to get due prices for their produces. It’s also the policy of the government. The prime minister is helping farmers in many ways. We’ve taken various measures to ensure fair prices for farmers.”
As part of the steps, he said the government will procure maximum amount of paddy from marginalised farmers. Razzaque said they are going to make a list of farmers in three categories -- rich, middle-income and marginalised.
“We’ll procure 20 percent paddy from rich farmers while 30 percent from the middle-income ones and the rest from the marginalised.”
He said the list of farmers will be displayed at different upazilas and union parishads and the agriculture officers will inform farmers about it. “We hope farmers will get better prices by following the steps, and it will also have a positive impact on the market.”
Besides, the minister said the government is working on formulating a paddy procurement policy, which will be placed in the cabinet soon.
Mentioning that the production cost of paddy rises due to high wage of labourers, Razzaque said the government is going to provide farmers with subsidy to procure expensive farming tools like paddy cutting and harvesting machines.
“The government is now in a dilemma as the country used to face famine due to lack of paddy production while we’re now facing problem in ensuring fair price due to excessive production of the staple food item,” the minister said.
“We’re confident that we’ll able to overcome the problem,” he added.
Comments