Farmers can now turn up a portable app to sell paddy to govt
Technology can change the world, it all is often said. And the lives of the country's 1.5 crore farm families, who tend to be shorn of fair prices, are going to change with the government move to acquire paddy from them by way of a mobile application.
The app, to create Krishoker App, will be utilized to purchase paddy from farmers in every sadar upazilas in the upcoming boro harvesting season.
"Our purpose was to make sure fair charges for farmers," said Foodstuff Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder at a good press meeting at his office yesterday.
The app was already piloted in 16 upazilas by the Directorate Standard of Foodstuff in the just concluded aman procurement season: 30,000 tonnes of paddy was bought off 23,000 growers.
The food office bought the best amount of aman paddy of 6.27 lakh tonnes in recent decades and achieved its investing in target -- an initial in 24 years, according info from the meals ministry.
"Save for a few minor errors, this is the 1st time we could actually buy such a major quantity of paddy. We trust we've become successful."
The paddy was bought directly from farmers predicated on a list of producers made by the agriculture ministry. The list had a lot more than 135,000 labels. From the list 23,000 were chosen randomly. Some 25 clubs monitored the order to ensure these were actual growers and there is no political intervention or presence of middlemen.
Riding on the accomplishment, the food office can pilot paddy procurement through the cell app in the remaining 48 sadar upazilas aswell through the next boro harvest.
"We introduced the cellular app to ensure that we can get in touch with considerably more farmers and the initiative offers paid off. The theory is to take all the districts beneath the app-based procurement system within the next aman season," Majumder added.
A farmer can make an application for selling paddy to open public warehouses, track progress of his application and record complaint using the app.
Aside from paddy, the DG Foodstuff bought 3.37 lakh tonnes of parboiled rice from millers at Tk 36 per kg, and 43,400 tonnes of unboiled rice through the just concluded aman getting season.
In the event of milled rice, the quantity of grain purchased during the aman harvest was 7.97 lakh tonnes, relating to food ministry data.
With the aman purchase, the quantity of rice procured by the DG of Food including last year's boro stands at 22 lakh tonnes, food ministry data showed.
The federal government has allocated Tk 8,024 crore to buy 21.20 lakh tonnes of rice in today's fiscal year, according to the finance ministry.
The government's purchase has began to impact on the costs of the staple grain on the market, said Agriculture Minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque.
At present, the price of coarse paddy is definitely Tk 800 each maund and the costs of excellent grain are between Tk 1,100 and Tk 1,200 a maund, higher than before.
"Despite the rise, the costs of coarse grain happen to be normal and there is absolutely no negative response from low-income persons," Razzaque explained, adding that the government is hopeful of buying paddy directly from growers within the next boro season.
Ensuring the percentage of wetness content good expected parameters of the meals ministry offers been the largest obstacle for farmers in providing grain to people warehouses and therefore getting fair prices.
The agriculture ministry has bought sufficient moisture measuring meters, which is directed at agricultural extension officials in order that they can help farmers know if the moisture level within their grains is within the mandatory level of 14 per cent.
Consequently, officials at the local storage depots will not be able to won't buy paddy from the farmers.
"The government is set to get paddy from growers at any cost."
Razzaque went on to talk about his past experience due to a foodstuff minister and said politically and socially influential persons used to supply the grains to consumer warehouses depriving farmers.
He said he had once tried to get wheat from farmers and found that influential people in the northwest districts of Thakurgaon, Panchagarh and Dinajpur were supplying the cereal by posing as being farmers.
The meals ministry also plans to get rice from millers through the portable app, said Food Secretary Mosammat Nazmanara Khanum.
Tushar Roy, a farmer from Dinajpur sadar, praised the government's initiative to get paddy through the cellular app.
The grower enrolled in the Krishoker App with the aid of his relatives and received a text message in the future that he was decided on in a lottery to market paddy to the public food office.
He supplied the grain on the scheduled time and received the proceeds found in his bank-account just after delivery.
"This is a good system. Farmers will come to be benefitted if the federal government makes its purchases in this way. However the government should make certain that all of the farmers can promote their grains to meals offices gradually," he told The Daily Celebrity by phone.
Razzaque said farmers who all cannot provide paddy to the federal government godowns in the just concluded aman get scheme can supply in the next boro season.
The names of those who supplied aman paddy this time around will not be put in the lottery within the next boro paddy purchase get so that all farmers are equally benefitted, he added.
To ensure that real farmers get the possibility to sell their manufacture to the federal government, the agriculture ministry can be getting ready to provide farmers brand-new cards according to an updated list, said Agriculture Secretary Md Nasiruzzaman.
Replying to a issue on the improvement in establishing 200 paddy silos, Majumder explained the proposal for the Tk 6,000-crore job is now with the look commission and its own implementation might begin within the next fiscal year.
