JS body recommends to stop rice import

Amid the widespread protest over the drastic fall of price of rice, the parliamentary standing committee on food ministry today recommended to stop rice import.

The rice import under government or nongovernment initiatives will have to be stopped and the volume of procuring rice from farmers will have to be increased for the sake of the growers’ interest, the committee came up with the recommendations.

The committee held meeting at the parliament complex with Mohammed Nasim in the chair this afternoon. The members of the committee including Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder, Dhirendro Debnath Shambhu, ruling party lawmakers Ayan Uddin and Ataur Rahman Khan were present at the meeting.

Besides, the food ministry has fixed the price of paddy at Tk 26 per kg and decided to procure around 1.5 lakh tonnes of paddy directly from the farmers this year.

The committee also discussed the overall situation that emerged due to fall of the price of rice and stressed the need for procuring rice directly from the farmers through a transparent way.