Bangladesh News

With the caretaker government’s food procurement drive almost halted, it has started negotiating with the country’s rice millers to achieve its target, changing its previous tough stance of not listening to the millers’ demands.

A committee headed by the director (admin) of the food directorate was also formed on Monday following a meeting between Food and Disaster Management Adviser AMM Shawkat Ali and a group of rice mill association leaders.

But officials said the government might fall short of achieving its procurement target as the rice millers started declining to sell rice to the government at the rate fixed by the latter, since rice prices had gone up on the market early this month.

The first meeting between the food secretary and the leaders of rice millers, that was held on Sunday in the food ministry, ended inconclusively as the secretary asked the millers to provide rice to the government at the rate of Tk 28 a kilogram (kg), while the millers demanded incentives for selling rice to the government at a rate lesser than market prices.

To reach an understanding and to expedite the procurement process, the newly formed committee met the leaders of millers again yesterday, where both sides remained rigid in their positions.

The millers put forward a 10-point charter of demands including one for incentives to offset their losses to be incurred from providing rice to the government at the previously fixed rate. But the ministry is not ready to concede to their demands. So both sides decided to meet again next Sunday.

“We are not able to provide rice to the government at the previously fixed rate,” KM Laek Ali, general secretary of North Bengal Rice Mill Owners’ Association, told The Daily Star last night.

“We are waiting for the government’s response to our demands,” he added.

The government has been persistently putting pressure on the millers to supply rice at the rate they had committed to earlier. Licenses of about 2,000 rice mills have so far been cancelled for their refusal to provide rice to the government at the already fixed rate.

Following a bumper boro harvest in the country, the military backed caretaker government set a procurement target of 12 lakh tonnes of rice at a rate of Tk 28 a kg, up from the past year’s procurement price of Tk 18, to build a safe food bank.

Since market prices of coarse rice went up to Tk 34 to Tk 35, many mills stopped supplying rice to government warehouses early this month, slowing down the government’s grain procurement.

The government also set a target to procure three lakh tonnes of paddy from growers for Tk 18 a kg and 50,000 tonnes of wheat for Tk 26 a kg, procuring about 44,291 tonnes of paddy so far.

The August 31 deadline for concluding the government’s procurement drive might also be extended by another couple of months while the army-led joint forces and mobile courts might also be deployed to expedite the procurement process, officials said.

“We will take all possible measures to achieve the target,” Food Secretary Molla Waheeduzzaman told The Daily Star in his office Monday. He however is happy with the stock of food grains in government warehouses, compared to last year’s stock during the same period.

The government reached agreements with 13,833 mills across the country for supply of 10.14 lakh tonnes of food grains by August 31, and 6.50 lakh tonnes of rice are already in the government’s warehouses.

The food secretary ruled out the possibility of increasing the procurement price in fear of an adverse impact on the market.

About the millers’ demand for incentives, the food secretary said a high-powered committee will take a decision regarding the matter.

He however blamed the weather for the slowdown in the procurement drive. “It has been raining almost every day, hampering the procurement drive,” he said.

Although only a half of the target has been fulfilled in three months with only a month left towards the current deadline, Molla Waheeduzzaman said he is hopeful of reaching the target by the extended deadline.

The government is accusing the millers of hoarding rice for extra profit while the millers are saying only a few large enterprises are doing so.

“The majority of 12,000 millers in the northern region are facing difficulties due to the rise in rice prices on the market,” Laek claimed adding that they will not be able to supply rice to the government unless they are given incentives.

The government recently issued an order to regulate rice mills and to compel them to supply the agreed quantity of rice at the officially fixed rate.

Many millers also alleged that the joint forces are forcing them to sell rice at the previously fixed rate.

The food secretary said the option of using the joint forces and mobile courts are there. Local administration may use them, if necessary, he said adding, “But we will do everything within the legal framework.”