Selling rice and flour through open market sale (OMS) program will continue until the rice market is stable, Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder said today (September 6, 2022).

“The government operates the program for five months – from March to April and September to November – every year and the OMS service will continue as long as the market is unstable,” he said.

The government started OMS from September 1 and under the service, people can purchase one kg of rice at Tk 30 and one kg of flour at Tk 18.

Local administration, officials of Food Department and intelligence team are monitoring the service, said the minister.

Talking about Boro procurement, the food minister said the government has procured 11.21 lakh tonnes of boiled rice while 55.20 thousand tonnes of non-boiled rice have been collected.

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“The government has a target to procure 6 lakh tonnes of paddy but we got only 2.68 lakh tonnes,” he said.

During the current Aman season, the government will import rice after ensuring fair prices for the farmers. The government is going to procure 10.30 lakh tonnes of rice and wheat from several countries, he said.

As per agreement, the government will purchase 2.30 lakh tonnes of rice from Vietnam, two lakh tonnes from Myanmar, one lakh ton from India, and five lakh tonnes of wheat from Russia, he added.

He also hinted at more procurement of rice through the government to tackle the drought in advance.

An individual can buy five kgs of rice and flour. Besides, the TCB card holders can also avail the opportunity.

Meanwhile, the government also started the ‘food friendly programme’ from the same day under which 50 lakh people can purchase rice at Tk 15.