Farmers in the district are unwilling to sell their harvested Boro paddy to the government warehouses as they are getting relatively fair price in the local markets.
District Food Controller Office sources said a target has been set to purchase 32,340 tonnes of paddy at Tk 1,040 per maund from selected 32,300 farmers of eleven upazilas of the district.
But only 394 tonnes of paddy have so far been purchased from the farmers till now after the start of the paddy procurement drive in the district one and a half months ago.
Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) sources said boro paddy was cultivated on 1,82,000 hectares of land in the district this season.
In the local markets, farmers are selling Kataribhog variety paddy at Tk 980 to Tk 1,000 per maund, Jirashail paddy at Tk 1,020 per maund and BRRI Dhan-28 at Tk 920 per maund.
Danesh Mandal of Budhuria village under Niamatpur upazila cultivated boro paddy on his 15 acres of land.
He said, "I got 900 maunds of paddy this season but I am not selling my produce to the government warehouse as I am getting better price in the local market."
"Apart from this, I had bitter experience of selling paddy to the government warehouses as the authorities harassed farmers mentioning colour and dryness of the produce during purchase", Mr Mandal added.
In-charge of Shibpur Local Supply Depot (LSD) under Niamatpur upazila said the farmers selected through lottery are not coming to sell their produces in spite of calls for several times.
District Food Controller GM Faruk Hossain Patowary said, "As the deadline for paddy procurement drive is August 31, we hope our target will be fulfilled within this period."
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