The government has decided to purchases additional 2.5 lakh metric tonnes of Boro paddy at Tk 26 per kilogramme in this current season.

“We will directly buy the paddy from the farmers and then give it to the millers for making rice,” Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder said while addressing a press conference at his ministry office.

Claiming that the farmers are getting low price due to bumper production of paddy this year, the minister said the government is trying to find out a permanent solution to put an end to the problem.

Apart from this, the government is thinking about establishing 200 paddy silos with five thousand metric tonnes storage capacity of each in different areas of the country, he added.

Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzaque said, the prime minister has advised them to procure more paddy in the season directly from the farmers and then making rice through the millers.

He said the moisture of paddy is the main problem in buying the paddy directly from the farmers.

“We have ordered around 3,000 pieces of moisture measuring meters which will be distributed to all unions so that the farmers can measure the moisture of their paddy by themselves,” he said.

It is to be noted that, the government had earlier decided to procure ten lakh metric tonnes of boiled rice and 1.5 lakh metric tonnes of sunned rice.

Paddy and rice procurement were started from April 25 this year and will continue till August 31.

Wheat procurement was also started from April 1 and will continue till June 30.