Shawdesh Desk:

Millers and big corporations are responsible for destabilising the rice market, according to the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute study revealed on Saturday.

‘Millers make a profit of at least Tk 8 to Tk 14 per kilogramme of rice,’ BRRI director general Md Shahjahan Kabir said while sharing the study findings at Gazipur BRRI’s auditorium during the opening session of a six-day research review workshop.

Addressing the event as the chief guest, agriculture minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque stressed the necessity for more research to unveil reasons behind the increase in rice price despite bumper production.

He said that the demand of staple food rice would increase further in the coming days.

‘Many millers polish different rice varieties to market them as miniket. The government would take strict measures to stop such malpractice,’ added the minister.

Razzaque mentioned that Bangladeshi scientists discovered new rice varieties which would give two yields per year, with each taking 110 to 115 days.

These new varieties would give the rice growers a three-month interval between one yield and another, and the farmers would be able to cultivate other crops during the period that would fetch them extra profit, according to the minister.

In his welcome speech, BRRI DG Md Shahjahan Kabir, said that the aman production would hit an all-time high with a yield of 163 million tonnes.

‘Our rice security is ensured till June 2023 with 42 lakh tonnes of surplus,’ he pointed out.

‘Our study found that the production cost went up for farmers, but big corporations are trying to manipulate the market. Millers and retailers are making excessive profit. These are the few reasons for rice price hike.’

State minister for planning Shamsul Alam, agriculture secretary Wahida Akter and Badal Chandra Biswas, director general at the Department of Agricultural Extension, among others, attended the workshop, which is scheduled to end on January 5.