Bangladesh will export 50,000 to 1 lakh tonnes of rice to Sri Lanka after meeting the local demand, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed said yesterday.
The minister came up with the revelation at an inaugural ceremony of the 4th Agro Bangladesh Expo-2014 held at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the capital.
The Ministry of Agriculture in association with “Foodpro Bangladesh” and “Rice and Grain Tech Expo” organised the event.
The three-day expo aims at introducing the latest technologies to the farmers of the country.
Tofail said the government would provide cash incentive for exports of unconventional agriculture products.
According to the Food Ministry, till August there was storage of 11.5 lakh tonnes of rice in the government store which was 2.5 lakh tonnes higher than it was in the same period last year.
In the past, Bangladesh used to export only aromatic rice, but this is the first time the country is going to export a large amount of rice.
Recently, the Sri Lankan government sent a proposal to purchase rice from Bangladesh.
However, a Statuary Regulatory Order (SRO) needs to be amended before exporting rice as an earlier SRO barred exports of any kinds of rice except the aromatic one till June30, 2015.
The Russia government on the other hand has shown interest in importing 1 lakh tonne of potatoes from Bangladesh, said the minister.
Earlier, the Russian government imported 20,000 tonnes of potatoes, but later stopped as they found the presence of bacteria in them.
“We have talked to the scientists and hope that the issue would be settled soon,” Tofail said.
Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury was also present on the occasion as special guest.
She said arable land is not increasing, but the demand for food is rising day by day.
“There is no alternative to introducing modern technology to farming for growing more products,” said the minister.
Matia urged the farmers to use less water from deep tubewells as it contributes to water depletion.
The minister observed that the bargaining capacity of farmers has increased because of the steps taken by the government to empower farming communities.
The agro fair showcased modern agricultural technologies and information intended to educate farmers to upgrade their production methods.
Around 1,000 participants including from India, China, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Korea and German took part in the show.