Cold storage owners to blame for price spiral of potatoes, onions: Agriculture minister

Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzaque has blamed cold storage owners for the current cost spiral of potatoes and onions, saying the government is failing to control the prices because of their non-cooperation.  

The minister observed that potato production this year has decreased by two lakh tonnes and "cold storage owners are taking advantage of this situation".

When the cost per kg is below Tk20, the cold storage owners are charging as high as Tk50, he mentioned. 

"Although the rice market remains stable, the government cannot regulate the prices of potatoes and onions due to the non-cooperation of cold storage owners." 

The minister made the remarks while talking to journalists after attending a meeting of the Food Planning and Monitoring Committee at the cabinet conference room of the Bangladesh Secretariat on Sunday. 

Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder also talked to the journalists.

Although the meeting was held on the government's procurement of rice, paddy and wheat, the ministers faced tough questions from journalists regarding the high prices of potatoes, onions and vegetables this session.

Abdur Razzaque stated that the agriculture ministry's duty is to ensure production whereas it is the commerce ministry which is responsible to regulate market prices.

The minister explained why the agriculture ministry did not give its consent to a commerce ministry's proposal to import onions this year. 

"Last year, onion production was good, but farmers did not receive satisfactory prices. We tried to boost their morale this year by ensuring better prices for them."

He went on to say, "There was significant pressure on us from India to import onions from there. But we did not bow down to its pressure."

Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder said the government will procure seven lakh tonnes of paddy and rice in the upcoming Aman season.

The government will start procuring two lakh tonnes of paddy at Tk30 per kg while four lakh tonnes of boiled rice and one lakh tonne of atap rice at Tk44 and Tk43 per kg respectively in the last week of October, he said.

The minister also stated that there is an adequate supply of rice in the country and now silos are being emptied to accommodate new rice stocks. 

"The rice stocks which will be distributed in November under the government's social safety net programme have already been unloaded from silos."

Millers are now expressing interest in selling rice to the government, as they are getting prices higher than their initial costs of purchasing from farmers.

He mentioned that businesses are being monitored closely. The government is increasing the volume of its rice procurement and working to keep the market stable, the minister said.

"For rice imports, there will be no need to spend any dollar from our foreign currency reserves. However, we will need to allocate funds from our reserves for wheat imports. One ship with wheat has already been unloaded at port and several more ships are on the way."

According to the food ministry data, during the last Boro season, two lakh tonnes of paddy were procured against a target of four lakh tonnes while 14.5 lakh tonnes of rice were collected against a target of 12.5 lakh tonnes. 

There is currently a stockpile of 16.20 lakh tonnes of rice. Additionally, there is 1.53 lakh tonnes of wheat in stock.

Journalists questioned the agriculture minister about the reasons for the rising prices of all types of vegetables in the market. In response, the minister argued that the prices of vegetables depend on nature. 

"Just two days of rain can disrupt production and transportation, leading to an increase in the prices of various vegetables."