The government will import 50,000 tonnes of parboiled rice from India through the railways for the first time. The cabinet committee on purchase approved the proposal at a meeting chaired by Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal yesterday. The rice will be imported from India's Kolkata and Chhattisgarh by the railways through Benapole, Darshana and Rohanpur borders, Shahida
Food stock now only 4.62 lakh tonnes
Govt focuses on procuring more food grain from farmers, millers by raising prices
With only around 4.62 lakh tonnes of grains in the public food stocks, one of the lowest in years, the government has moved to procure paddy, rice and wheat from local farmers and millers at prices higher than last year s.
In a virtual meeting held yesterday, the Food Planning Monitoring Committee (FPMC) decided to collect 10 lakh tonnes of boiled and 1.5 lakh tonnes of non-boiled rice from local dealers. The committee also decided to buy 6.5 lakh tonnes of paddy from the farmers. We are going to purchase 11.5 lakh tonnes of rice and 6.5 lakh tonnes of paddy in the current season. The details will be disclosed in a day or two, Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder told The Daily Star after the meeting.