Govt to import 0.4m tonnes of rice

The government has decided to import 0.40 million tonnes of rice, aiming to avert any kind of food security risk during the flood season.

The decision was taken at a Food Planning and Monitoring Committee meeting chaired by Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed at the Bangladesh Secretariat on Tuesday.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, Food Adviser Ali Imam Majumder said the government has taken the plan apprehending that there will be floods during the Aman season, reports UNB.

“We do not want to take any risk during the Aman season. Last time we had started our preparations after the flood due to the formation of the interim government,” he said.

The import will be made through an international tender, he said.

Although standing vegetable crops have been affected by continuous rains, there is no risk of crop loss as Boro paddy has already been harvested and Aman is still at an early stage, the adviser said.

“But, we have taken our advance preparations, we will start our advance procurement process,” he said.

The bureaucrat turned adviser to the interim government, Ali Imam Majumder, also said that till November, the Safe Food Storage will be 1.30 million tonnes, comprising rice and wheat.

He said that the government has already collected some 0.37 million tonnes of Broro paddy against the target of 0.35 million tonnes, and the target for rice collection is 1.40 million tonnes, whereas some 0.95 million tonnes have been collected.

“Hopefully, we will be able to reach near the target. We will stop the process to procure the rice in the middle of August,” he said.

“As soon as we finish the procurement process, we will start food-friendly programmes,” he added.

He said that some 55 lakh families across the country, which was 5.00 million previously, will get 30 kilogrammes of rice per month at the rate of Tk 15 per kilogramme.

This will continue for six months- August, September, October, November, February and March.