The government will buy 2 lakh metric tonnes of paddy at Tk 26 per kg, 6 lakh metric tonnes of cooked rice at Tk 38 per kg and 50,000 metric tonnes of atap rice at Tk 38 per kg in the current Aman season.

This information was given in a press release of the Ministry of Food on Wednesday (October 26).

It was informed that the decision was taken at a meeting of the Food Planning and Maintenance Committee held through online video conference at the Ministry of Food. The government will procure aman paddy directly from marginal farmers.

After the meeting, Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder said 200,000 metric tonnes of paddy would be procured at Tk 26 per kg from November 8 to February 28, boiled rice at Tk 38 per kg from November 15 to February 28 and atap rice at Tk 38 per kg. Although the government procured paddy and rice every year during the Boro season to ensure a fair price for the marginal farmers, only rice was collected during the Aman season. Apart from rice, paddy is also being collected during the aman season from last year.

So far, 10 lakh 71 thousand metric tons of food grains are stored in government warehouses. Last year, the government procured 6 lakh metric tonnes of paddy at Tk 28, 3 lakh 36 thousand metric tonnes of cooked rice at Tk 38 and 43,401 metric tonnes of atap rice at Tk 35.