November 15: The state-owned Food Management and Trading Company (FMTC), which is responsible for the purchase of paddy from farmers at the minimum support price fixed by the government, has delayed purchasing the paddy. The reason for this is the delay in release of budget for purchasing the paddy.

In the current fiscal year, the FMTC had aimed purchasing 30,000 metric tons of paddy at the minimum support price subject to the release of  budget by the government. But the budget release got delayed, which also affected the timely purchase of paddy by the FMTC. The direct impact is being felt by the farmers who are still in despair due to the loss caused by the unseasonal rainfall and floods. Now, the farmers have no option left other than selling the paddy to local traders at a rate lower than the minimum support price fixed by the government as they need to buy fertilizers for sowing winter crops.

For the current fiscal year, the government has allocated the minimum support prices for different types of paddy. The support price of coarse-grained paddy is Rs 2,725 per quintal whereas the medium-grained paddy is Rs 2,902 per quintal. Traders are taking advantage of this situation and have started buying paddy at arbitrarily low prices. Meanwhile, farmers in most districts including Banke, Bardiya, Kailali, Kanchanpur, Dang and Rupandehi have been forced to sell paddy at a price lower than the support price.

The main branch office of the FMTC located at Rajapur of Bardiya is still not showing any signs of purchasing paddy. On the other hand, the traders are buying paddy from farmers at prices as low as Rs 1,800 to Rs 2,500 per quintal, according to the coordinator of Rajapur Paddy Superzone, Agni Aryal. He informed New Business Age that traders are buying paddy at very low prices arguing that the paddy has been soaked with water due to the unseasonal rainfall.

“The government’s job is not only to allocate the support prices, but also to start buying the paddy on time,” said Aryal adding, “It is a pity that farmers do not get a fair price for the paddy they have grown by shedding blood and sweat. It needs to be brought to the notice of the concerned bodies as soon as possible.”

Amidst all the chaos, the FMTC officials informed that it is still not certain when they would be able to buy the paddy. Sharmila Neupane, information officer of the FMTC, said that on one hand, the budget has not been approved while on the other hand, the standard for making purchases of which type of paddy has still not been prepared.

According to Neupane, after the FMTC makes purchase of paddy, they manufacture rice grains and store them for a long time to gradually sell in future. To do so, the paddy is purchased only after testing the quality as per the international standards. FMTC buys paddy that is only up to 18 percent moist. “However, the paddy this year got damaged due to unseasonal rain. There are additional concerns of whether the paddy would be of designated standards or not,” said Neupane.

Neupane also claimed that although it is not sure when the FMTC would start buying the paddy, efforts are being made to initiate the purchase of paddy as soon as possible.