Even though the official paddy procurement campaign has started, the Food Department has not yet been able to start buying paddy in Singair Upazila of Manikganj. This complication has arisen mainly because the list of farmers is not ready. As a result, it is not possible to buy paddy from farmers even though the government food warehouse is empty.
It has been learned from the Upazila Food Controller’s office that this year, a target of 554 metric tons of paddy has been set to be purchased from farmers in Singair at a price of Tk 36 per kg. Although paddy procurement has started in various parts of the country since April 24, it has not been done in this upazila. Once the updated list of farmers is provided by the Agriculture Office, the Upazila Food Controller will purchase paddy from farmers accordingly.
This season is about to collapse. Many believe that a situation has arisen where the price of paddy at the current market price is higher than the government price list. Therefore, it is not possible to buy paddy according to the previous list in the current season.
Upazila Food Controller Mohammad Faruk Chowdhury said, we have verbally informed the Agriculture Office for the updated list of farmers at the right time. But they have not provided us with the list yet. That is why we could not start buying paddy.
On the other hand, Upazila Agriculture Officer Md. Habibul Bashar Chowdhury said, it was not possible to provide the updated list of farmers due to the Food Office not informing us in writing.
In this regard, Singair Upazila Executive Officer Md. Kamrul Hasan Sohag said, contradictory statements on the pretext of a letter are not right. I will tell both offices so that it can be done quickly. Moreover, buying paddy is a challenging task, but even then we have to try.
