Rice price is likely to rise further as the government have no substantial stock to check the market price, sources in the Ministry Of Food and Disaster told New Age.

Sources said rice stock in the government godowns is only about 4.5 lakh tonnes and the stock of wheat is hardly 500-700 tonnes all over the country.

The government’s buffer stock of foodgrains is not over 4.5 lakh tonnes, the sources added.

Meanwhile, a section of businessmen has allegedly started cashing in on such a low stock of foodgrains.

The country is now facing a food deficit of about 15 to 20 lakh tonnes. Recently, an inter-ministerial meeting has reached a decision to import 1 lakh tonnes of rice and 50,000 tonnes of wheat, which, observers said, is too inadequate to meet the shortfall.

According to these observers, due to some loopholes of the government procurement drive the food stock position has aggravated.

The government has recently decided to procure one lakh tonnes of boiled rice from the local market, but the rice is unlikely to be supplied within a stipulated time of 21 days as the bidders consider the terms and condition of the tender unfavourable.

In the current aman harvest season, the government failed to procure rice from the local market as the government fixed its procurement price at as low as Tk 13.10 whereas the market price of rice was not below Tk 17 a kilogram.

Had the procurement price of rice been fixed at Tk 15 per kilogram, the procurement drive in the aman harvest season could not have failed drastically, a source in the food ministry observed.

The government will face a huge financial loss if it goes for procuring rice through the process of tender, he added.

The source further said had the procurement drive been run in November, the farmers would have been the beneficiaries, but the present process of rice procurement from the local market will only benefit the middlemen involved in rice trading.

Meanwhile, the government is contemplating to initiate an open market sale of rice to check its price, but the present stock crisis has thrown the government into a setback.

The OMS could be started, if the government could procure the rice from the local and international market, which, observers said, is unlikely to be achieved within a short span of time.

The situation would have been otherwise if the government heeded to the reminder for procurement of rice given by an international body like World Food Programme and the country’s economists last year following the devastating flood.

A field level official of the Department of Agricultural Extension told New Age that the aman output was 107 lakh tonnes against the target of 112 lakh tonnes last season and the government has fixed the target of boro production at 120 lakh tonnes for this season.

The official attributed the high price of rice in international market and its global low output to its high price in the local market.

The director of supply, distribution and marketing of the Directorate of Food, Mohafez Ali, expressed his hope that the procurement at an enhanced rate would contribute to checking the high price of rice.

A market survey reveals that rice price still remained high. Coarse varieties of rice like sharna and pari found selling at Tk 18-19 per kilogram in different city markets and the fine varieties of rice like nazirshail and miniket at Tk 22-24.

In the last week, the prices of coarse varieties of rice ranged between Tk 16 and Tk 17 and the fine varieties ranged from Tk 19 to 20.