Country now self-sufficient in food, says Matia

When the Sheikh Hasina-led government came to power in 2009, there was a shortage of 26 lakh tonnes of food-grains, but the country has now achieved food sufficiency because of the government’s sincerity and commitment to the people, said agriculture minister Matia Chowdhury on Monday. 
“The government now can give rice to its people ‘free of cost’, but that would create anarchic conditions and massive irregularities in the country. To control the situation, the government has started fair price selling of rice in the country, at a token price of Tk. 10 per kg,” she said while inaugurating the database of around 49.14 lakh fair price rice sale beneficiaries on the website of DG Food.  The Directorate General of Food (DG Food) organised the programme to disclose the lists of beneficiaries on its website in its conference room at the city’s Abdul Gani Road. 
Food secretary Kaikobad Hossain chaired the programme. Food minister Qamrul Islam, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the food ministry, Abdul Wadud Dara, and the director-general of the food department, Badrul Hassan, also spoke on the occasion.  Matia Chowdhury said, “Once the government helped the people through its test relief (TR) and food for work (FFW) programmes. But people are not interested in working with spades now because we have achieved the status of a lower-middle income country.”
“That is why the government has started the fair price selling programme of rice for five months in a year. The food support will be given during the lean period—from March to April and September to November—every year to jobless people at Tk. 10 per kg,” the agriculture minister said, adding that the initiative has been taken up as the Prime Minister thinks about the people’s ‘right to food’. A total of 30kg of rice is being given to each person per month, she added.  At the programme, the officials disclosed that the allocation for the running month to continue the fair price programme has already been handed over to the dealers. The beneficiaries can collect their rice any time they want this month. 
Tom-tomming the fair price rice selling activities of the government as a “massive success”, food minister Qamrul Islam said, “It’s true that there were some mistakes during its initial stage.

Country now self-sufficient in food, says Matia

When the Sheikh Hasina-led government came to power in 2009, there was a shortage of 26 lakh tonnes of food-grains, but the country has now achieved food sufficiency because of the governments sincerity and commitment to the people, said agriculture minister Matia Chowdhury on Monday. The government now can give rice to its people free of cost, but that would create anarchic conditions and massive irregularities in the country. To control the situation, the government has started fair price selling of rice in the country, at a token price of Tk. 10 per kg, she said while inaugurating the database of around 49.14 lakh fair price rice sale beneficiaries on the website of DG Food. The Directorate General of Food (DG Food) organised the programme to disclose the lists of beneficiaries on its website in its conference room at the citys Abdul Gani Road. Food secretary Kaikobad Hossain chaired the programme. Food minister Qamrul Islam, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the food ministry, Abdul Wadud Dara, and the director-general of the food department, Badrul Hassan, also spoke on the occasion. Matia Chowdhury said, Once the government helped the people through its test relief (TR) and food for work (FFW) programmes. But people are not interested in working with spades now because we have achieved the status of a lower-middle income country. That is why the government has started the fair price selling programme of rice for five months in a year. The food support will be given during the lean periodfrom March to April and September to Novemberevery year to jobless people at Tk. 10 per kg, the agriculture minister said, adding that the initiative has been taken up as the Prime Minister thinks about the peoples right to food. A total of 30kg of rice is being given to each person per month, she added. At the programme, the officials disclosed that the allocation for the running month to continue the fair price programme has already been handed over to the dealers. The beneficiaries can collect their rice any time they want this month. Tom-tomming the fair price rice selling activities of the government as a massive success, food minister Qamrul Islam said, Its true that there were some mistakes during its initial stage.