Govt to buy food grains worth Tk 7,000 crore online: Food Minister

The government is spending 7,000 crore taka to buy food grains, announced Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumdar.

This was confirmed at the inauguration ceremony of the online procurement program for Boro paddy and rice collection held at the secretariat on Tuesday (May 7).

Mentioning that rice will be bought at a rate of Tk 32 per kg for 5 million tons of paddy, the food minister said rice at Tk 45 per kg will be bought for 1.1 million tons of boiled rice and at Tk 44 per kg for 100,000 tons of parboiled rice. Additionally, 50,000 tons of wheat will be purchased at Tk 34 per kg. The government has set a target of spending nearly Tk 700 billion on the procurement of rice, rice, and wheat.

Sadhan Chandra Majumdar said, "So that farmers are not adversely affected, moisture meters will be used to measure the moisture content of rice. Besides, it has been instructed to the DCs so that no official of the food warehouse causes any trouble to the farmers. Food officials must keep an eye on the quality of rice and rice."

He further stated, "There has been no damage to Boro paddy due to storms and rains. 99 percent of the Boro paddy has been harvested in the haor area. We hope that the rice harvest across the country will be completed within 10-12 days."