Govt to procure 0.6m tonnes parboiled Aman rice

The government will procure 0.6 million metric tonnes of parboiled Aman rice from farmers across the country from December 1.

Food Minister Advocate Quamrul Islam made the disclosure while briefing reporters after a meeting of the Food Planning and Monitoring Committee at the secretariat in the city on Sunday.

“The government has decided to procure 0.6 million tonnes of parboiled Aman rice at Tk 36 per kg,” the minister said.

He said the rice procurement price for this year has been fixed at Tk 36 as the per kg production cost varied from Tk 34 to 35, reports BSS.

The government will increase the procurement volume by 0.2-0.3 million tonnes if the procurement drive becomes satisfactory.

The procurement will end on February 28, 2019.

The food stockpile in the public warehouse stands at 1.218 million tonnes — 0.968 million tonnes of rice and 0.25 million tonnes of wheat.

Chaired by the food minister, the meeting was also attended, among others, by Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, Agriculture Minister Begum Matia Chowdhury and food ministry officials.