Finance
Edible Oil Import of edible oil will be reduced by half: Agriculture Minister
Dhaka, October 13: Agriculture Minister Dr. Abdur Razzak said, "In the next three years, we will reduce the import of edible oil. We will increase the production of oil crops in the country. Now 90 percent of the edible oil has to be imported. We want to reduce this import to 40-50 percent."
He said this at a workshop on 'Inclusion of oilseeds in the existing cropping system and increasing the production of high-yielding varieties of rice crops' at the Krishibid Institution Bangladesh (KIB) auditorium in the capital on Thursday (October 13). Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRI) and Directorate of Agricultural Extension jointly organized this workshop.
State Minister for Planning Dr. Shamsul Alam and former Governor of Bangladesh Bank Dr. Atiur Rahman also spoke in the workshop under the chairmanship of Agriculture Secretary Saidul Islam.
The agriculture minister said, "A country which has export earnings of 50 billion dollars, has to spend two billion dollars on importing edible oil. This is surprising. If the price of edible oil increases, it also affects politics."
He also said, "Bangladesh is not dependent on foreign aid, nor will it be dependent. The price of rice in the country has definitely increased. When the price of wheat increases, people eat more rice. As a result, the price of rice increases. Besides, we are also feeding the Rohingya refugees."
The agriculture minister said, "Coronavirus pandemic and Russia-Ukraine war have put the economy under pressure. People are suffering because of the increase in the price of rice, but there is no shortage of food in the country. In the last 13 years, no one has died of starvation."
Atiur Rahman, the former governor of Bangladesh Bank said, "Farmers now not only produce food for the country, but also export it abroad. The products which were imported before, are now produced by the farmers of the country. The main reason for the stable economy of the country is the farmers. The Prime Minister spoke about food scarcity around the world, not only Bangladesh. The country will survive because of the farmers even during the Great Recession that is coming next year."
