No food crisis in the country: Food Minister

Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder today said that there is no food shortage in the country at present.

In response to a tabled question from Awami League MP Ali Azam, the minister said in parliament that according to the information provided by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) in the last financial year 2021-22, a total of 392.31 tons of rice and wheat including 381.45 tons of rice and 10.86 tons of wheat were produced in the country.

Of the total rice productions, Boro production was 201.86 tons, Aush 30.01 tons and Aman 149.58 tons.

The minister said that according to the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES 2022) conducted by the BBS, the average daily food intake of people is 351.8 grams (rice 328.9 grams and wheat 22.9 grams).

Accordingly, in the financial year 2021-22, if the total population of the country is 169.82 million, the total food grain requirement is 217.58 lakh tons (rice 203.94 lakh tons and wheat 13.64 lakh tons) which is lower than the total production of food grains in 2021-22 fiscal year.

Considering the country‍‍`s population growth rate of 1.22 percent, the total population of the country on January 1, 2023 stood at 171.90 million (estimated), the food minister said.

Considering this, the total demand of food grains in the country will be 220.73 lakh tons.

"There is no fear of food shortage in the country if the previous pattern of foodgrain production is maintained in the financial year 2022-23,

The food minister said that in the financial year 2022-23 till June 4, 2023, the government has imported 6.34 lakh tonnes of rice and 6.80 lakh tonnes of wheat meaning that 13.14 lakh tonnes of

food grains were imported.

Under private arrangement, 4.22 lakh tonnes of rice and 27.24 lakh tonnes of wheat meaning a total of 31.46 lakh tonnes of food grains have been imported.

According to the information of the Food Department, at present (as on 4 June 2023), the government food grain stock is 17.44 lakh tons (13.83 lakh tons of rice and 3.61 lakh tons of wheat), the food minister said.