50 lakh marginalised people to receive rice at Tk10 per kg soon: Agri minister

The government is going to provide 50 lakh marginalised people with rice at Tk10 per kg soon in a bid to relieve the pain of soaring commodity prices thanks to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzak has said.

"We are concerned about the working class people and have been providing them with rice at subsidised price through open market sales. Now, we have decided to ensure rice for 50 lakh poor people at Tk10 per kg within the next few days," the minister said while visiting the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute on Saturday.

He said the prices of food grains increased slightly due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. "But the government is making its all-out efforts to keep food prices at an affordable level."

Visiting Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Q Dongyu, Agriculture Secretary Saidul Islam, Additional Secretary Ruhul Amin Talukder, BARC Executive Chairman Sheikh Mohammad Bakhtiyar, FAO ADG Jung-Jin Kim, Director General of the Rice Research Institute Shahjahan Kabir and other senior officials of the ministry were present at the event.