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Govt may go for rice export

Minister cites lack of storage facilities as reason

UNB, Dhaka
The government may go for rice export due to lack of sufficient storage facilities and to ensure fair price for the marginal farmers, said Food and Disaster Management Minister Abdur Razzaque yesterday. “We see a bumper paddy production this year. The price of rice is falling at an alarming rate... I am very worried. We may go to export rice as we do not have adequate warehouses to procure more rice,” he told an inaugural session of a two-day workshop at Ruposhi Bangla Hotel in the city.
The minister said the farmers were deprived of getting fair price of rice “as the government does not procure rice from them directly and the middlemen are getting the benefit".
He said the government considers agriculture, food security and nutrition as the major priority areas. "Although we have made
impressive achievement in food grain production since independence, we are still facing considerable challenges in the areas of population growth, climate change and persistence of large scale poverty and malnutrition.”
The National Food Policy Capacity Strengthening Programme (NFPCSP) of Fao organised the workshop on food and nutrition security policies with supports from the USAID and theEU.
Chaired by Food Division Secretary Barun Dev Mitra, the inaugural session of the workshop was also addressed by US Ambassador in Dhaka Dan W Mozena, Fao representative in Dhaka Dominique
Burgeon, Charge d' Affaires and Head of Cooperation, Delegation of the European Union to Bangladesh, Milko van Gool, NFPCSP Chief Technical Adviser Ciro Fiorillo and Director General of Food Planning and Monitoring Unit Naser Farid.
Speaking as the chief guest, the minister said he was very much hopeful that Bangladesh would achieve surplus in food production this year.
“We are very good in rice production... we are happy to see the country as sufficient in food or surplus in food," he said.
Razzaque said achieving food and nutritional security is considered by the government as a prime develop-
ment agenda to make the country a middle income one as envisaged in the Vision-2021.
About the government initiatives in achieving food security, the minister said, “Bangladesh has successfully prepared the Country Investment Plan (CIP) to implement the food security programmes."
He said the CIP aims at securing funds from multilateral and bilateral partners and Bangladesh is the first recipient of a grand of $52 million in Asia from the Global Agriculture and Food Security Programmes.
Commitment for $325 million was also received from the USAID while $52.70 million from the Danida, the minister added.