The government has decided to introduce a new affordable food assistance programme to replace the TR and VGF feeding programmes that have long been criticised for political favouritism and corruption.
Under the new programme, people would pay a token price of Tk15 for a kilogram of rice, which would allow the programme to cover more people in need than before, an official at the Finance Ministry said.
Sources at the ministry said Finance Minister AMA Muhith has already approved the alternative for Test Relief (TR) and Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF) programmes two days ago. The sources added that the Disaster Management Ministry is expected to make an official announcement very soon.
A ministry official said the move comes following repeated calls from World Bank and other donor agencies, asking the ministries and divisions concerned to reform the TR and the VGF programmes.
Three ministries – Agriculture, Food, and Disaster Management – are involved in implementing the TR and the VGF programmes.
The Dhaka Tribune obtained a summary of the finance minister’s approval that reads: “The agriculture minister [Motia Chowdhury] has suggested a reform programme for Test Relief and Vulnerable Group Feeding. Her proposal is very good.
“In this matter, I had thought we would drop those TR and VGF programmes to introduce food vouchers for people in need. But the agriculture minister’s proposal is more preferable,” Muhith wrote.
“Bangladesh is not an impoverished country any more,” the document reads.
The existing TR programme creates employment opportunities for the rural poor through implementation of small rehabilitation projects and offering the poor food grains in exchange of work. The VGF programme offers the extremely poor people with food grains to enable the destitute to improve their economic and social conditions.
The new programme
Under the new affordable feeding programme, the government will sell rice at a token price of only Tk15 per kg, replacing the existing no-price-tag TR and VGF programmes. The government hopes this would help solve corruption and political favouritism.
The changes will allow the government to provide cash instead of food grain to people working in special TR projects, while the people covered by the general TR programme would get only food grains at an affordable price.
Meanwhile, what used to be the VGF programme would now cover only the people affected by climate change. This would allow programme costs to be slashed to only one-third of what it is now, Muhith’s summary reads. The proposed program will be allocated a total Tk2,214 crore.
Commenting on the change, financial adviser to former caretaker government AB Mirza Azizul Islam said the government is introducing the programme because of pressure from development partners.
Claiming a price tag on food grains would not solve the corruption problem, Mirza Aziz said: “Without good governance, a new programme for the poor will not be successful in the future.”