The country’s food stock last week fell below one million tonnes, less than two-thirds of a safe reserve, as the authorities concerned was taking the old reserves out of the warehouses to prepare for developing a fresh reserve during this boro season that started yesterday.
“We’re not worried about the declining food stock, which is a result of making the warehouses and silos vacant,” Director General of Food Ahmed Hossain Khan told the Dhaka Tribune last week.
The stock of food, particularly rice, would increase to a sufficient level with boro procurement. The Department of Agriculture Extension has a forecast for a positive boro output.
In Bangladesh, a food stock of 1.5m tonnes is considered to be enough for facing any emergency situation. But it went down to 0.93m tonnes as on April 28, according to food ministry figures. Of the stock, 0.73m tonnes are rice and the rest wheat.
The food stock rose to its decade-high at 1.58m tonnes in November two years back. It stood at 1.23m tonnes in April last year.
Former Research Director of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) KAS Murshid told the Dhaka Tribune that the government should maintain an adequate reserve of food to keep the prices in the local market stable. Maintaining an enough reserve also helps prevent businessmen from increasing the prices.
He said a drop of the food grain stock, on the other hand, provokes the traders to increase the prices, affecting the consumers and contributing to inflation.
In March this year, the government had decided to procure 0.9m tonnes of boro rice, 0.15m tonnes of paddy and 0.15m tonnes of wheat for the current year. Boro contributes half the country’s annual food grain consumption.
The procurement drive for wheat has started one month ago and would continue to next month.
The procurement price of boro has been fixed at Tk29 per kilogram for this season and boro paddy at Tk18.50 per kg. The boro procurement rate was Tk28 per kg last year.
