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Kathmandu Tuesday November 07, 2000 Kartik 22, 2057.
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B'desh unlikely to import
Nepali rice
Post Report
KATHMANDU, Nov 6 - In spite of a liberal
attitude adopted by the government to allow rice exports, which was restricted
quantitatively earlier, to help farmers in obtaining better price for their produce,
Bangladesh's inability to procure Nepalese rice this year has come hard upon the domestic
farmers.
"Bangladesh has officially expressed
its inability to import Nepalese rice. However, any imports by the private sector would
not be restricted by the Bangladeshi Government," said a high level official at the
Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, talking to The Kathmandu Post.
The government last year, to curb any
possible shortage of rice in domestic market, had quantitatively restricted its exports
following huge purchases by the Bangladeshi Government. Bangladesh almost two years back
had imported 80 thousand tons of rice to meet its food grains shortage caused due to
unfavourable climatic conditions. However, the government this year has lifted the
restrictions and has instead hoped that atleast 30 percent of the total production will be
exported.
The price of domestic paddy, which has
plunged by over 40 percent in the past few months, due to flooding imports of cheap rice
from India, is a major concern of farmers who were expecting exports to Bangladesh to come
to their relief.
With no foreign demands for Nepalese rice,
both India and Nepal, due to favourable climatic conditions, expecting bumper crops this
season, domestic farmers are afraid that prices would further go down after the new
harvest sets in.
However, Nepal Food Corporation (NFC), with
a view to help farmers get a better price for their produce, has said that it is
communicating with the Bangladeshi Chambers of Commerce and Industry for exploring every
possibility of exporting rice to Bangladesh through the private sector.
The price of paddy in the domestic market
has fallen from over Rs 1,050 last year to around Rs 600 presently. In addition, complete
removal of subsidy in fertilisers and partial revocation in irrigation facilities has
dealt a hard blow to the farmers, who are unable to compete against cheap Indian rice.
India still continues to subsidise agriculture.
The farmers have been demanding with the
government to fix a support price for their produce and to restrict the flow of Indian
rice into the country to save domestic farmers. Although the precarious condition of the
farmers was discussed in the Cabinet and the government hinted to fix support price for
their relief, it has not done so as of yet.
"The decisions relating to these two
issues, namely support price and restricting Indian rice into Nepali markets, would be
taken only after it is clear whether Bangladesh will import Nepali rice or not," said
the source.
Even the announcement made by Bala Dev
Sharma Majgainya, Minister of State for Agriculture and Cooperatives, recently to
introduce a program for farmers' relief has not materialised as well.
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