Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder yesterday said the government procured nearly 16 lakh metric tonnes of food grains in the last fiscal 2018-19.

“A total of over 15.9 lakh metric tonnes of food grains was procured in fiscal 2018-19. Of those, 40,175 metric tonnes were wheat while 84,309 metric tonnes paddy and 14,66,486 metric tonnes rice,” he said while replying to a starred question placed by ruling party lawmaker Md Ayeen Uddin (Rajshahi-3) in the Jatiya Sangsad in the capital.

Responding to another question placed by treasury bench lawmaker Ali Azam, Majumder said the government decided to procure four lakh metric tonnes of paddy directly from farmers during the current boro season, fixing the price of per tonne paddy at Tk 26,000.

That is why the government will spend Tk 1,040 crore to procure four lakh metric tonnes of paddy, he said.