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May
23, 2000
Joypurhat,
May 22 (UNB) – Price of paddy continues to decline in the district
due to transport strike and delay in launching government’s grain
procurement drive.
Market
sources said last week’s three-day transport strike that ended on
Thursday knocked down the paddy price further as many buyers could not
come to the district headquarters for lack of vehicles.
Official
sources said the government’s grain procurement drive could not yet
be launched in the district as most food godowns are saturated with
last season’s grains.
They
said there are 22 food godowns in the district, which now have
capacity to store only 16,150 metric tons of paddy.
During
the last week, paddy was sold at Tk 200 to Tk 250 per maund in the
district headquarters and now it’s selling at Tk 230 per maund.
The
government has fixed the price of Irri-boro paddy at Tk 230 while rice
at Tk 420 for procurement this year. But the prices of both paddy and
rice in the open market are much higher than the government rate.
Paddy is now selling at Tk 8.25 while rice at Tk 13 per kg.
The
government procurement drive was scheduled to begin on April 20. But
it could not be launched here, as many food godowns in the district
and elsewhere of the country have no space to accommodate more grains.
According
to local Agriculture office, some 63,475 hectares of land were brought
under IRRI-Boro cultivation in the district this year, from where
2,30,000 metric tons of paddies are likely to be produced.
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