Bangladesh
Food Stock 16 lakh 79 thousand metric tons of food in stock in Bangladesh
Dhaka, Feb 28: At present, a total of 16 lakh 79 thousand metric tons of food grains are stored in government food warehouses in the country.
Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumdar gave this information in a written reply to a question of Awami League member of Parliament Anwarul Aji Anar in the National Parliament session on Tuesday. He also mentioned that the stock of food grains is 'satisfactory'. Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury presided over the session.
Majumdar said that as of February 20 this year, a total of 16 lakh 79 thousand metric tons of food grains are stored in the government food warehouse. Stocked food grains include 14 lakh 38 thousand metric tons of rice and 2 lakh 41 thousand metric tons of wheat. Food stocks are currently satisfactory.
He said that with the aim of increasing the stock of foodgrains in the country, the government has taken up procurement and importation of rice and wheat from domestic and foreign sources. Among which - collection campaign started from November 23 with the target of collecting 2 lakh metric tons of paddy and 4 lakh metric tons of boiled rice and 1 lakh metric tons of Atap rice under the current Amon collection season. Which will continue till February 28.
The minister said, later this target has been changed and instead of 4 lakh metric tons of boiled rice, it has been decided to buy 5 lakh 67 thousand 446 metric tons of boiled rice and 50 thousand metric tons of paddy rice from the domestic market.
He said that in the budget of the current financial year 2023-24, money has been allocated for the import of 6 lakh 50 thousand metric tons of wheat and 1 lakh 50 thousand metric tons of rice. Against this budget allocation, the contract for import of 5 lakh metric tons of wheat has already been executed under open tender and JTUZ.
Contrary to the agreement, 3 lakh 57 thousand 627 metric tons of wheat has been imported till February 17. The redemption process for remaining contract wheat is ongoing. In the current fiscal year, no rice import activities have been taken from abroad so far' - said the Food Minister.
