News Desk: The Revolutionary Farmers’ Solidarity has demanded the government to fix the price of paddy at a minimum of Tk 1,200 per ounce and collect at least five lakh tonnes of paddy from farmers. The leaders of the organization said that due to bureaucratic procrastination, irregularities, corruption and factionalism, in most cases, the actual producing farmers could not sell the paddy at the price fixed by the government.

The price of paddy set by the government at Tk 1,080 this year is not profitable for farmers.

The president of the organization Anshar Ali Dulal and general secretary Sikder Harun Mahmud made the demand in a statement on Monday.

In the statement, the leaders said that due to the violence of the local influential and middlemen of the ruling party, the farmers could not sell paddy in the government procurement centers. Union-based government procurement centers should be opened to ensure purchase of paddy directly from farmers. At the same time, measures have to be taken against middlemen to ensure fair prices for agricultural crops. The organizers of the peasant movement must also be active in this regard.