2024-02-29 11:54:45
Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumdar said that there is a total of 16 lakh 79 thousand metric tons of food grains stored in the government warehouses in Bangladesh.
He gave this information in response to a written question by Awami League member of parliament Anwarul Azim Anar in the session of the Jatiya Sangsad on Tuesday (February 27).
The Food Minister said that till February 20, 2024, a total of 16 lakh 79 thousand metric tons of food grains are stored in the government warehouse. These 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 food stock in the country, the government has taken up procurement of rice and wheat from domestic and foreign sources. The campaign was launched with the target of collecting 2 lakh metric tons of paddy, 4 lakh metric tons of parboiled rice and 1 lakh metric tons of Atap rice in the current Aman season, which will continue till tomorrow, Wednesday. Later this target was changed and it was decided to buy 5 lakh 67 thousand 446 metric tons of boiled rice and 50 thousand metric tons of rice from the domestic market.
The Food Minister also 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, contracts for the import of 5 lakh metric tons of wheat have already been executed under open tender and JTUZ. Against this, 3 lakh 57 thousand 627 metric tons of wheat has been imported till February 17. Remaining wheat redemption process is going on. In the current financial year, no rice import activities have been undertaken from abroad so far.