Despite concerns about supply and prices in the international market due to the war in Ukraine, Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder sees no fear of food shortages in the country in the current fiscal year.
“There was no shortage of food grains in the country in the 2020-21 financial year, nor is there any risk of shortage in the 2021-22 financial year,” he said. he told parliament on Tuesday in response to a question from Ali Azam, a ruling Awami. League legislator.
Meanwhile, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi said prices for edible oil and other essentials remained stable in the local market.
In a mathematical presentation, the Minister of Food showed that the production of food grains should exceed the demand of the population during this fiscal year ending in June.
According to him, the Ministry of Agriculture has set a target of 407 lakh tonnes of food grain production – 394.81 lakh tonnes of rice and 12.26 lakh tonnes of wheat – in the financial year 2021-22.
According to the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) 2016 conducted by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, the average daily food intake of people is 387 grams – rice 367.2 grams and wheat 10.8 grams, said the Minister of Food at the start of the chaired session. by President Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury.
So, if the population of the country is estimated at 169.30 million in the financial year 2020-21, the total food grain requirement was 239.14 lakh tons – rice 226.90 lakh tons and wheat 12.24 lakh tons. tons, which was less than the total production of this financial year.
Taking the population growth rate as 1.37%, the total population of the country is to be estimated at 171.53 million as of January 1, 2022. Thus, the total demand for food grains will be 242.30 lakh tons. It is also less than the food grain production target for the 2021-22 financial year, he added.
From this calculation, the Minister concluded: “There is no risk of food shortage in the country”.
Responding to a question from Momota Hena Lovely, an Awami League legislator from a reserved seat, the food minister said internal purchases of wheat and boro would start on April 1 and April 28 respectively.
“Government has set targets to procure 6.5 lakh tons of rice, 11 lakh tons of parboiled rice and 50,000 tons of atap rice in the next boro season,” he said in response. to a question from BNP MP Mosharraf Hossain.
Commodity prices remain at a tolerable level (trade minister)
Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi, in response to a question from Mr. Abdul Latif, a ruling party MP, acknowledged that oil prices had risen in the country due to a surge in the international market.
But, he added, thanks to the effective measures taken by the ministry, the prices of basic commodities, including cooking oil, have remained stable and tolerable.
Trade deficit stands at $16.242 billion
In response to another question from Mohammad Ebadul Karim, a ruling Awami League legislator, the Minister of Commerce said the country’s exports in the fiscal year 2020-2021 were $45.367 billion while the deficit trading amounted to $16,242.01 billion.
“We have a trade deficit with India, which is declining,” he said, answering a question from MP Lutfun Nesa Khan.
In the financial year 2020-2021, Bangladesh’s exports to India rose to $1.279 billion from $512 million in the financial year 2010-2011, he added.
Responding to a question from MP Benazir Ahmed, the minister said that the current government has taken steps to sign free trade agreements and preferential trade agreements with various countries to increase trade potential. Under an agreement with China, duty-free access will be available on 8,256 products.
2,861 buying houses in the country
In response to a question from MP Mozaffar Hossain, the Minister of Commerce said that there were a total of 2,861 buying houses in the country.
