Replenish food grains stock at the earliest

DESPITE taking various measures to import rice in the last three months, the government has failed to replenish the country’s food grains stock, which is now at it’s lowest level. According to a news report published in a national daily on Thursday, the latest move to import rice came on Wednesday, when the two cabinet committees on economic affairs and purchase approved proposals to import 1.5 lakh tonnes of rice from India. With this move, the government has so far taken initiatives to import 15.5 lakh tonnes of rice. The price of rice would be around $411.93 per ton.
As reported, rice and wheat stocks at public storages dipped to 4.88 lakh tonnes, of which 3.99 lakh tonnes was rice as of April 5. On July 1 last year, the country’s food stock stood at 11.88 lakh tonnes while it was 16.74 lakh tonnes on July 1, 2019. The stock started falling in June last year as distribution under the social safety net and other government programmes continued despite sluggish procurement. Farmers and millers also refrained from selling food grains at the government-fixed rates as the prices were soaring.
Meanwhile, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in a report released on Wednesday warned about rising food prices in Bangladesh along with eight other countries. It said the price of country’s staple food has risen by 35 per cent in the past year. This is the highest rate of increase in rice price in the country since October 2017. Among the reasons, it mentioned shortage of rice production and increased demand for rice due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Experts say as soon as the stock in government silos fall to one million tonnes, there is a negative impact on the market and therefore, the price of rice starts rising. That is why the government has been urged to increase the stock of rice on a top priority basis. Even after the Aman crop was harvested, the stock did not exceed 550,000 tonnes. Experts say it is better to have 1.5 million tonnes stored in government silos and it should never go below 1.2 million tonnes.
With the onset of Boro harvesting season the rice market is likely to return to normal. Until then, the government should seriously consider to increase food aid for the poor under social safety net. It should also take steps to increase the stock of rice in silos.