The government has procured only 12 percent of the targeted amount of paddy in the last two months,” said Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder.
His remarks came on Thursday (Jun 20) during the question-answer session in the Parliament.
“The government decided to procure 150,000 tonne of paddy at the beginning of the season and another 250,000 tonne later,” he said.
“It was also decided that 1 million of rice will be procured,” he added.
According to ministry sources, the government started procuring rice and paddy from Apr 25 and it will continue till Aug 31.
The minister said that as of Jun 16, 46, 263 tonne of paddy which is 11.57 percent of the total targeted amount, 423,000 tonne of rice (42.36 percent of target amount), 36,306 tonne of par boiled rice and 23,612 tonne of wheat has been purchased.
He added that it was decided that an additional 250,000 tonne of paddy will be procured but not directly from the farmers.