Buy 75 % of boro rice by 30 June: Minister to food dept
He also instructed them to look into why the price of rice is rising despite a bumper crop of boro paddy in the country
Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder has directed officials of the food department to ramp up efforts to ensure meeting the government target of buying 75 % of this year's Boro rice by 30 June.
The minister, connecting virtually from his official residence in Dhaka, was speaking at a progress review meeting of Internal Boro Collection-2021 for the Khulna and Barishal divisions, on Monday.
"As the price of both paddy and rice has been set rationally this year, it is not acceptable at all that mill owners increase the price of rice at will," he said in a press release.
He instructed officials of the food department to look into why the price of rice is rising now, despite bumper yields of boro paddy in the country.
The minister also called upon field officers of the Food Department to diligently procure boro rice from mill owners within the stipulated time as per agreement.
Otherwise action will be taken against mill owners as well as officials, he warned.
The minister assured that the government will continue its efforts to keep the price of rice, staple food for the people of Bangladesh, affordable.
He also emphasised regular market monitoring with the help of district administration to keep the rice market stable.
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Food ministry secretary, Moshammat Nazmanara Khanum, spoke at the meeting, with additional director general of the Food Department, Md Abdul Aziz Mollah, in the chair.
Field level officers of the food department's Khulna and Barishal divisions joined the meeting virtually.
In the current boro season, the government has set a target of procuring 6.5 lakh tons of paddy and 11 lakh tons of atap and parboiled rice.
The government launched its boro procurement drive from 28 April, and rice procurement from 7 May.
