The government will buy paddy directly from farmers in 250 upazilas through the ‘Krishaker App’ in this current Aman season.
In this regard, the Directorate General of Food has sent letters to Regional Food Controllers of Dhaka, Khulna, Rangpur, Chattogram, Sylhet, Barishal, Rajshahi, and Mymensingh and gave instruction to implement the decision.
To get registered in the app, the authority concerned has fixed deadline till November 15 and asked the farmers to apply for the sale of paddy through app.
According to the letter, it has been decided to implement ‘Krishaker App’ in the form of pilot in 250 selected upazilas across the country in the upcoming Aman, 2021-22 season.
In order to prevent the anarchy of middlemen, this initiative has been taken to collect food grains from the farmers directly through the digital method. To ensure fair price for farmers and alleviate their sufferings, food grain or paddy procurement will be experimentally conducted in digital way.
An official of the directorate of food said, farmers will be able to sell their paddy and rice directly to the government without any hassle. Mill owners and farmers will know the demand and supply date of paddy and rice through SMS.
Director (Procurement Division), Directorate General of Food, Md Raihanul Kabir told Bangladesh Post, “Procurement through the app is gradually increasing. During the last season, we had procured paddy from 210 upazilas and this time it has been expanded to 250 upazilas. Farmers are spontaneously completing registration to the apps”.
When asked about what is the procurement target through apps this season, he replied, “We have just sent a letter to different regional food controllers. Soon, a meeting will be held from where we will be informed what will be our target.”
For the upcoming Aman season, 560078 farmers and 1754 mill owners have registered under the ‘Krishaker’ App, so far.