Apprehending a food crisis in future as floods have damaged crops on a very large scale, the government has decided to import 20 lakh tonnes of food grains. Also, the import duty on rice will be reduced to 2 per cent from 10 per cent, to encourage the private sector to import food grains.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Food Planning and Monitoring Committee at the food ministry yesterday.

The department concerned has failed to fulfil the target to procure Boro rice and paddy this season, and it is not possible now to meet the target because of the floods. So, the government  has decided to meet the

demand by importing food grains. According to sources, it was supposed to stock about 10 lakh tonnes of food grains in godowns, but the stock has dwindled to three lakh tonnes of rice and 1.45 lakh tonnes of wheat.

Finance minister AMA Muhith, agriculture minister Matia Chowdhury, commerce minister Tofail Ahmed, food minister Qamrul Islam and other senior officials attended the meeting.

The government has decided to further reduce the import duty on rice with a view to keeping the price stable in the domestic market and tackle any possible food crisis due to floods in future, food minister Qamrul Islam told reporters after the meeting.

“The import duty on rice will be 2 per cent, down from 10 per cent. A gazette notification will be issued in this regard soon,” he said. The meeting also decided to increase the food grain stock by importing 20 lakh tonnes of food grains this fiscal. Of the imported food grains, 15 lakh tonnes would be rice and 5 lakh tonnes wheat.

On June 21, the government slashed the import duty on rice and brought it down to 10 per cent from 28 per cent, against the backdrop of major market instability and shortage of food grains.

There is enough food stock, the food minister claimed.

“This decision does not indicate that there is a food crisis. In fact, there is no food shortage at this moment,” he said.

Replying to a query regarding non-fulfilment of the procurement target this Boro season, Qamrul Islam said: “We could not fulfil the target for various reasons like floods and blast disease infection in rice.”

The government had set a target to procure 15 lakh tonnes of food grains from local markets this Boro season—eight lakh tonnes of rice and seven lakh tonnes of paddy. The minister said they had a target to produce 1.91 crore tonnes of Boro rice this year, but it could not be achieved due to massive floods.

He also said the government has decided to import 15 lakh tonnes of rice and 5 lakh tonnes of wheat to boost the stock. “The government has signed deals with Vietnam and Cambodia to buy 2.5 lakh tonnes of rice from each country,” he said, adding that the maximum amount of rice imported from Vietnam has already reached the country.

Asked how much rice has so far been imported, Qamrul said: “Some 2.5 lakh tonnes have already entered our sea boundary. The rest will be imported by the current fiscal year,” he added.

There is no scarcity of rice in the country and the prices also remain within people’s purchasing capacity, he claimed.

The minister said the government will provide rice at Tk. 10 per kg among the poor people under the Food-friendly Programme from September, which will continue for three months. Each of 50 lakh families across the country will be able to buy at least 33 kg of rice per month, he added.

Our Benapole correspondent adds: As many as 310 rice-laden trucks from India have been stranded at the Benapole port since August 7 after traders stopped taking delivery of the imported rice. The importers’ reluctance was triggered by media reports that the government was going to cut the total taxes on import of rice, considering the easing of prices at home, sources said.

Mofizur Rahman Sazan, president of the Benapole Customs Clearing & Forwarding Agents' Association, said Bangladeshi importers were initially disinterested to import rice from India as the government had imposed 28 per cent tax on it.

Later, the government cut 18 per cent tax on the existing duties from June 20, considering the hiked price of rice in the country. After the relaxation of duties, traders started importing rice from neighbouring India. But after the price of rice stabilised in the country, the government decided to cut tax again.