The government has drastically cut its Aman paddy procurement target for the current harvesting season, citing an insignificant purchase last year due to a lack of supply from growers.

The food ministry plans to buy 50,000 tonnes of Aman paddy from the current season, which is one-seventh of the 350,000-tonne procurement target it set last year.

However, the targeted amount is 46 percent higher than the actual purchase of 27,000 tonnes, said Md Mahbubur Rahman, director general of the Food Planning and Monitoring Unit, after a meeting of the Food Planning and Monitoring Committee (FPMC) yesterday.

"We have found that the marketable surplus from the Aman harvest is low and farmers mainly consume the staple," he said in response to a query from this correspondent.

The food ministry plans to buy 50,000 tonnes of Aman paddy from the current season, which is one-seventh of the 350,000-tonne procurement target it set last year

Rahman said the government could only procure 24,000 tonnes of paddy from growers in the fiscal year 2023-24.

M Asaduzzaman, former research director at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), said farmers are often reluctant to take their produce to procurement centres as these are not located close to their homes.

Furthermore, large farmers hold their produce for a longer period to profit during the lean period, he added.

At yesterday's meeting, the FPMC decided to increase the parboiled rice procurement target to 600,000 tonnes, up from the previous year's target of 550,000 tonnes and the actual procurement of 519,000 tonnes.

It slashed the sunned rice procurement goal by half to 50,000 tonnes for the current Aman season.

Farmers have already started harvesting Aman, which accounts for roughly two-fifths of total annual rice production. The government estimates the production cost of Aman paddy, excluding profits and transport costs, at Tk 30.03 per kilogramme, up 4 percent year-on-year.

The government also hiked the procurement prices of both paddy and milled rice, as decided at the meeting of the FPMC, an inter-ministerial committee responsible for monitoring the country's overall food situation and advising on food security policies.

It will pay 3 percent more than last year's price to buy Aman paddy at Tk 34 per kg this season. Accordingly, the government will also buy parboiled rice at a higher price this year.

The food ministry will buy parboiled rice from millers at Tk 50 per kg, which is 6 percent higher than the previous year. It also increased the procurement price of sunned rice to be harvested during the current Aman season.

The procurement will start on November 20 and continue until February 28.

Briefing journalists after the FPMC meeting, Food Adviser Ali Imam Majumdar said, "We will try to achieve the Aman rice procurement target. If we get more supply, we will buy."

He said they considered the farmers' interests when fixing the procurement price.

Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed said the government buys grains from farmers to support them, ensuring that rice traders do not gain an advantage over growers.