The New Nation - Internet Edition

A.T.M.Nurun Nabi

The country produced 283 lakh metric tonnes of rice during the last financial year, excess of annual consumption but below the target; yet, people suffered bitter experience in respect of price. The most consumed coarse rice now sells at between taka 24 to 26 (it varies from market to market). Although, there is no logic behind such high rate, assessors have pointed out several factors behind the hike, needing gradual removal in order to restore normalcy in rice market.

For the current fiscal year, the aman target is one crore 30 lakh 45 thousand metric tonne. It includes one crore seventy thousand metric tonne of HYV transplanted aman, 24 lakh m.t. of local variety ropa aman and 5.70 lakh metric tonne of broadcasted aman. The target of boro output is one crore 69 lakh and 45 thousand metric tonne. The combine aman and boro target is two crore 99 lakh and 90 thousand only.

The target so fixed is not ambitious one but achievable. Just a field level coordination in the selection of the genuine farmers for receiving government's fertiliser and diesel subsidy and a fair selection of dealers for proper distribution thereof could yield a very good result. In the past, political consideration was the prime quality of selecting dealers most of whom were accused of creating artificial crisis.

Mere confession of discrepencies in distribution of fertilisers and seeds and supply of diesel is not enough to check fiasco. Good planning and effective implementation are vital in this respect. For this, the support of the government is very much necessary. For success in agriculture, the government may study the Chinese achievement. Though China’s economic structure is semi-capitalist, the government control part of production and distribution in order to resist artificial crisis. Economists fear if food output suffers shortfall, the nation may be constrained to pay heavily. The deficit can't be met by mere import.

It is said that rice is transacted at seven points from producers to consumers, resulting in the rise of price beyond economics index. The rice producers are intercepted by the middlemen on way to local markets and become constrained to sell at the rate fixed by the latter.

The middlemen sell paddy to the mill men for crushing. The mill men crush the paddy they purchase and then sell to the wholesalers through another group of middlemen in different areas of the country. Then the wholesalers sell to the retailers who sell to the consumers. Thus it appears that the middlemen intervene twice in the rice trading. A farmer said, he himself crushes his produce in his own home with the machine to escape middlemen’s interference in trading.

There is no doubt that the price of rice will be much lower than the present's if the farmers could directly sell to the consumers. In that case, both the farmers and the consumers would be profitted.