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Saarc Food Bank gets 2 lakh MT grain from Bangladesh, India

Pallab Bhattacharya, New Delhi
India and Bangladesh yesterday pledged to contribute 153,000 tonnes and 40,000 tonnes of food grain respectively to set up a Food Bank with an initial capacity of 2,43,000 tonnes to meet the demand of Saarc countries during crisis-like situations.
The Food Bank, proposed at the
Colombo Summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) in August, is expected to be in operation next year. The proposal was ratified yesterday at a meeting of agriculture ministers of Saarc nations in New Delhi.
"We have formalised the process for operationalisation of the Food Bank," India's Agriculture
Minister and Chairman of the meeting Sharad Pawar, told reporters in the Indian capital.
The capacity of the bank maybe scaled up later depending on the situation, Pawar said.
While India remains the largest contributor to the bank, Pakistan will offer 40,000 tonnes and Nepal and Sri Lanka will provide 4,000
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tonnes each followed by Afghanistan (1,420 tonnes), Maldives (200 tonnes) and Bhutan (180 tonnes).
The food grain would be stored in different places in border areas of the member nations, a top Indian official said, adding that a pricing formula has been agreed upon to supply the food grain in case of emergency.
The Saarc countries ruled out joining hands to form any rice cartel, an idea mooted by Thailand, a major rice producer, to have more bargaining power in world trade.
"We have not considered it yet... About 40 per cent of poor people live in this part of the world. Forming a cartel does not suit our purpose," Pawar said as? Bangladesh's Agriculture Adviser C S Karim agreed with him.
The Saarc countries adopted a cautious approach on bio-fuels, saying food security remains the top priority.
"We support bio-fuels but not at the cost of food security," Pawar added.
Two declarations on UG99, a form of rust that destroys wheat crops, and food security were agreed upon. A proposal to harmo-nise bio-fertiliser standards through Saarc Regional Standards Organisation was also signed.
A conference on how to tackle any possible threat arising out of UG99 is scheduled to be held today.