Farmers angry due to unfair price of paddy: Minister

Agriculture Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque today in parliament said that a huge resentment has been prevailing among the farmers due to deprivation of fair price of paddy at present.

Replying to a supplementary question, he also said the government has taken various steps to resolve the problem.

“There have been serious discussions at the national level that the farmers did not get due price by selling paddy. It’s a very important issue. It can’t be accepted that people would not be benefitted and get fair price by cultivating paddy,” he said.

Replying to a supplementary question, the minister also said, “We want the farmers to get due prices of their products. It’s also the policy of the government… We’ve taken various measures to ensure fair prices for farmers.”

As part of the steps, he said the government will procure the maximum amount of paddy from the marginalised farmers.

Razzaque said they are going to make the list of farmers in three categories—rich, middle-income and marginalised ones.

“We’ll procure 20 per cent paddy from the rich framers while 30 per cent from the middle-income ones and rest amount from the marginalised farmers.”

He said the list of the farmers will be displayed at different upazilas and union parishads across the country and the agriculture officers will inform farmers about it.

Besides, the minister said the government is working on formulating a paddy procurement policy which will be placed in the Cabinet soon.