Sangsad Bhaban – Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder on Monday 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 tonnes of rice and wheat including 381.45 tonnes of rice and 10.86 tonnes of wheat were produced in the country.
Of the total rice productions, Boro production was 201.86 tonnes, Aush 30.01 tonnes and Aman 149.58 tonnes.
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 tonnes (rice 203.94 lakh tonnes and wheat 13.64 lakh tonnes) 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 tonnes.
“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, [Source: Census 2022 by BBS],” the minister also said.
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 tonnes (13.83 lakh tonnes of rice and 3.61 lakh tonnes of wheat), the food minister said.