Government warehouses now hold about 16 lakh tonnes of food grain, including more than 13 lakh 63 thousand tonnes of rice, which can be called fairly satisfactory. According to the food ministry, although rice stocks are good, market prices are at their highest. This November coarse rice is selling at Tk 52 to 56 a kg, causing real hardship for low-income people.

According to the food ministry, the country's food grain stock (as of 6 November) is 15,81,166 tonnes, including 13,63,933 tonnes of rice, 2,09,333 tonnes of wheat and 12,153 tonnes of paddy.

At the same time last year (2021) the stock was 15,47,350 tonnes, including 13,49,720 tonnes of rice, 1,94,700 tonnes of wheat and 4,520 tonnes of paddy. At the same time in 2020, the total stock was 10,42,970 tonnes: 7,54,130 tonnes of rice, 2,81,120 tonnes of wheat and 11,890 tonnes of paddy.

This shows that food grain stocks are now higher than at the same time in the past two years. The rice market, however, is unstable, and even wide-scale OMS and food-friendly programmes are not having much effect on it.

Food department officials nevertheless call the stock "satisfactory", and say rice prices may fall somewhat once aman paddy reaches the market.

Md Mojibor Rahman, additional secretary (procurement and supply wing) at the food ministry, told Jago News: "Our stock is good now. Not just now; we have kept it at a satisfactory level for some time."

He said the aman procurement target has already been set. "If aman can be bought successfully, there is no chance of the stock situation worsening. But our food-friendly programme is running, and part of the stock goes there."

Though food grain stocks are good, the rice market is rising. According to the state-owned Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) on 7 November, fine rice sells at Tk 62-75 a kg depending on quality, medium rice at Tk 52-58 and coarse rice at Tk 48-52. Atta is selling at Tk 58-80 a kg.

The government will buy eight lakh tonnes of paddy and rice from the domestic market this aman season, at Tk 42 a kg for rice and Tk 28 a kg for paddy. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Food Planning and Monitoring Committee on 1 November.

Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder said the government paddy and rice procurement drive would begin on 10 November.

On the global food crisis, the minister said: "We have everything in mind. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is dealing with the situation firmly. I do not think there will be a food crisis in Bangladesh."

Speaking earlier about the aman target and production, Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzaque said: "Aman is one of our big crops. Now, of course, boro has become much bigger: two crore tonnes or more of boro is grown, and aman is about one crore 50 tonnes." It rained only one day in Shraban this year, he said, which caused great anxiety; everyone, from the prime minister down, was worried that paddy could not be planted. He described aman as photosynthetic: when the days grow shorter aman paddy flowers, and once it flowers production falls because the plant cannot grow. But right at the end, he said, farmers managed to grow it reasonably well by irrigating and other means.

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