JHENIDAH, Jan 29 (UNB): The Paddy and rice procurement drive in the district may fail to achieve the target this season due to less purchase of paddy and rice than the target fixed by the government for the local market. According to the local Food Department, the government has set a target to buy 809 tonnes of paddy and 3,227 tonnes of rice through nine purchasing centres during the current drive that began on November 26 and will continue until February 28. The government fixed the purchasing rate of per kg rice at Tk 14 and per kg paddy at Tk 9.25. But the centres failed to procure a single kg of rice and paddy till January 15, the sources said. They said the farmers are very much unwilling to sell their produces to the government procurement centres at comparatively lower prices. They said they prefer to sell their produces in the open markets due to the higher price there. The Department of Agriculture Extension sources said the total output in last year's aman season was 30,000 tonnes less than the target because of crop damage. Crops on 30,000 hectares, out of 92,000 hectares, in the district were damaged in the previous transplanted aman season due to lack of adequate rainfall, the sources informed.
|