Half of Boro paddy procurement target not achieved yet, Food Minister tells JS

Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder on Tuesday told parliament that half of the Boro paddy and rice procurement target has not been achieved in the current season.

Responding to a tabled query from ruling Awami League MP Kazim Uddin Ahmed, the minister said that some 199,686 metric tons of paddy and 12,93,838 metric tons of boiled rice have been procured till September 7.

The government set a target of collecting 4 lakh metric tons of paddy by September 14.

In reply to a query of AL MP AKM Sarwar Jahan, the Food Minister said that the government had decided to buy paddy at Tk 30 per kg and boiled rice at Tk 44 per kg during the Boro season.

The government earlier decided to procure 4 lakh metric tonnes of paddy and 1.45 lakh metric tonnes of boiled rice by August 31. Later the time  was extended till September 14.

In response to another question of Kazim Uddin Ahmed, the food minister said that there is no food shortage currently in the country.

The total population of the country requires 2.18 crore metric tons of food grains annually but the production in the country was 4.02 crore metric tons last year.

The food minister said that there is no possibility of food shortage in the current financial year as well.

In response to another question, the minister said that till September 7, there is a stock of 18.54 lakh tons of food in the country's government warehouses.

In response to the question of AL MP Ali Azam, the Food Minister said steps have been taken to reduce import of edible oil by approximately 40 percent in three years (2022-23 to 2024-25) the to achieve self-sufficiency.

Mustard cultivation has been increased to 8.18 lakh hectares of land from 6.10 lakh hectares of land.