Paddy procurement: middlemen eat up cream, farmers suffer

The marginal farmer, who is supposed to be benefited by the government’s paddy procurement drive, is hardly welcome at the procurement centres where he has to face numerous difficulties and usually has to leave without selling his stock of paddy. He has no alternative but to sell the paddy in the markets where the prices are considerably lower than the procurement price. The market prices range from Tk 350 to Tk 420 per maund while the government’s procurement price is Tk 560 per maund.
The New Age, while talking to farmers in their villages at several upazilas in Rajshahi and Naogaon last week, found that rarely any grower was able to sell Boro paddy directly to government.
‘I think no one here can point out any marginal farmer in our village who had sold Boro to the government procurement centre,’ said Sajjad Ali, an elderly farmer at Mashishal Bari of Godagari upazila.
While talking with a group of farmers at the village tea stall, the New Age heard a terrible tale of a farmer who had carried his stock of paddy to a government procurement centre.
After carrying 17 maunds of paddy to the procurement centre, the farmer was told that his paddy stocks did not have the allowable moisture level.
‘He kept his stock of paddy in a nearby relative’s home,’ said one farmer at the tea stall. ‘He tried to sell it again, but was told that his paddy couldn’t fulfil this or that procurement criterion, so he brought it home and had to pay through his nose for transport.’
Abul Hashem, a farmer of Tanore, pointed out that rice millers and contractors, who are mainly Awami league men, are the ones who sell paddy to the government.
‘Most of the times the government prices remain much higher than those in the markets but the middlemen eat up the cream and the farmers are totally deprived,’ Hashem added
Farmers at Mohishal Bari, Jugisho, Mondumala, Nauhatta and Mohadevpur told New Age that they had to sell their coarse Boro paddy for only Tk 350 to Tk 420 per maund, which is much lower than the procurement price.
The government has set the procurement price at Tk 560 per maund of paddy for the ongoing Boro procurement drive.
Many upazilas in Rajshahi are known as the paddy granaries of the country and farmers there grow more paddy than is needed for local consumption.
So the government finds it very easy to procure paddy there by buying it from the traders and rice millers.
Many farmers in the area opined that the government should strictly prohibit paddy procurement from contractors and rice millers.
‘The food department officials can go to the farmers’ homes and pay in advance so that the farmers can keep their stocks at home for months,’ suggested Tajul Islam, a teacher at Mahishal Bari College.
Almost every farmer who talked with New Age at Mahishal Bari and Tanore gladly agreed with the suggestion of paying for paddy in advance.
‘Such a system will ensure that government buys paddy from farmers only,’ said Rafiqul Islam, who is known as an ‘ideal farmer’ at Mahishal Bari.

Courtesy of NewAgebd