If the targets for buying paddy and rice from across the country are met, there will be no need to import food from abroad, Food Ministry Secretary Md Masudul Hasan has said.

He was speaking at the launch of the Boro paddy procurement drive at the Mithamain upazila food warehouse in Kishoreganj at midday on Thursday 24 April.

"If the nationwide target for buying paddy and rice is fulfilled, we can hope that Bangladesh will not have to import food from any foreign country," the secretary said. "The Bangladesh of the future will be free of hunger."

He said farmers play the biggest role in achieving a hunger-free Bangladesh, and there is no doubt about that. Support for farmers will continue.

The food secretary said the government has set a target of procuring 14 lakh tonnes of rice this year.

"Our country's existence depends on self-sufficiency in food," Md Masudul Hasan said. "Without self-sufficiency in food, there are problems with the country's existence and stability. Food has always been used as something important in the world."

This year Mithamain has a procurement target of 12,489 tonnes of paddy and 27,138 tonnes of rice. The government will buy paddy at Tk 36 a kg and rice at Tk 49 a kg from marginal farmers.

The event was chaired by Mithamain Upazila Nirbahi Officer Khan Md Abdullah Al Mamun. Additional Deputy Commissioner (General) Mizabe Rahmat, Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) deputy director agriculturist Dr Sadikur Rahman, regional food officer Suraiya Khatun and others were present.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.