Govt to import 5 lakh tonnes of rice
The federal government may import up to 5 lakh tonnes of rice to replenish the country's depleting food stocks and tame the soaring prices of the staple, according to a senior official of the meals ministry.
The Directorate of Meals has recently floated a tender to buy 100,000 tonnes of parboiled rice from abroad. Meanwhile, the federal government located an order for 50,000 tonnes of rice the other day and plans to buy another 100,000 tonnes from foreign sources shortly.
"We will buy more rice from the overseas market rather than depending an excessive amount of on local millers," Foodstuff Secretary Mosammat Nazmanara Khanum explained yesterday.
The meals ministry aims to get 300,000 tonnes of rice from abroad in the first phase.
"And we've a target to acquire 500,000 tonnes of rice in total this season," she added.
The meals ministry has decided to increase rice imports because of too little interest among native farmers and millers to provide the cereal grain to state warehouses. This is due to reduced yields caused by bad weather and recurrent flooding.
The Directorate of Foodstuff has made a decision to buy 200,000 tonnes of paddy from native growers and 600,000 tonnes of rice from millers for the existing Aman rice season.
But since the beginning of the procurement period last month, it might buy simply 507 tonnes of parboiled rice and 27 tonnes of paddy as of December 2.
The food ministry is trying its better to reach the previously set target to make sure fair charges for the farmers, Khanum said.
Asked about the reluctance among millers to provide rice to state warehouses, Khanum explained they have not asked the neighborhood producers to supply rice to the warehouses.
"Instead, we are getting it from abroad since they [local farmers] cite shortages found in the domestic market. Let them source it there," she added.
This is the first-time in three years that the government considered overseas markets to refill food stocks and intervene in the market through various social safety net schemes to curb a spike in the price tag on a staple food.
Food stocks dipped 43 per cent year-on-calendar year to 7.9 lakh tonnes by December 2 this season, according to the food ministry.
Khanum also said the government has started providing income under a number of the social safety net programmes such as for example Test Relief, Food for Works and Vulnerable Group Feeding in a bid to move away from the prior practice of providing meals grains.
"So reduced food inventory is normally unlikely to become problem," the meals secretary said.
To be able to contain artificial value spikes, the meals ministry has retained watch so that no-one can hoard the grain, she added.
