Move on against people out to hoard rice

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Food ministry will send a letter to the Bangladesh Bank (BB) today urging it to ask private commercial banks not to provide loan facilities to individuals who might use it for stockpiling rice.

The initiative is aimed at making the current boro procurement drive of the government successful and stabilising the price of rice, said food ministry sources adding that the BB earlier instructed all commercial banks to ensure that their rice miller clients repay loans within three months of disbursement of the loans.

Meanwhile, the boro procurement drive that was launched on April 17 has yet to gain momentum. As per the data provided by sources at the food ministry, the government, till May 11, procured only 17,584 tonnes of boro — paddy 3,609 tonnes and rice 13,949 tonnes.

The government set the boro procurement target at 15 lakh tonnes by August this year. Out of the procurement, 12 lakh tonnes would be rice and 3 lakh tonnes paddy, said the ministry sources.

The food ministry officials are hopeful that the government will be successful in reaching the target, hoping to procure the major portion of the target in June and July.

The government during the last boro season procured 7.06 lakh tonnes of rice.

Food Adviser AMM Shawkat Ali in the last couple of days during his visit to the northern districts of the country held meetings with local rice millers to find out about the underlying reasons behind the poor performance the boro procurement drive.

The government this boro season expects to buy around 10 lakh tonnes of boro from the northern region, regarded as the country’s grain belt.

The millers told the adviser that despite having a huge supply of paddy at their mills, they are having difficulties processing it due to frequent power outage.

The supply of paddy would increase further if a section of unscrupulous individuals, backed by loan facilities from commercial banks, could not stockpile the crop, they alleged.

Our Bogra correspondent said if the seasonal rice hoarders continue to stockpile rice, the government might not reach its target procurement this year.

The food ministry sources said the food adviser has already instructed government commercial banks not to disburse any further loan to such unscrupulous rice hoarders.

Furthermore, the adviser will write to the governor of Bangladesh Bank and urge him to instruct private commercial banks to withhold loan facilities to rice hoarders for the next two months, added the sources.

The food ministry will also request the Power Division to ensure smooth supply of power to the boro-producing northern region.

If the boro procurement programme does not reach its goal, the government might also consider direct sale of rice again through its safety net programmes including open market sale (OMS) programme, said the ministry sources.

The ministry officials hoped that the reintroduction of OMS and other safety net programmes would help lower the price of rice on the market and make the rice procurement rate set by the government more attractive to the rice farmers.

Uttam Kumar Deb, head of research at Centre for Policy Dialogue, said since there is food crisis both at home and abroad, the government should also explore unconventional sources such as the local markets to procure rice from.

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