The government has, at least for now, backtracked on its decision to
export rice in the wake of a looming global food shortage amid poor
harvest of wheat in three major producing countries due to unprecedented
drought.
The U-turn also involves the government's intention to increase domestic food stock to avoid any future shortfall that could be a drawback in the backyard because of any possible global food crisis.
Bangladesh had produced excess rice in the previous Boro season, which came as an encouragement for the government to export rice but given the new context in the global production scenario the government has decided to shelve the plan, says Food and Disaster Management Minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque in an interview with bdnews24.com .
Razzaque tells bdnews24.com that the government will not be exporting rice or paddy before November as it wants to wait for Aman harvest.
"We will decide on the issue after Aman harvest," he says.
The government is also keeping its eyes on the food situation of other major producers in the world and in case of emergency will import rice and wheat from Vietnam, Thailand and India to increase food reserves, the minister adds.
Experts fear a world-wide food crisis in the ongoing fiscal after the United States, Russia and Ukraine, all key producers of wheat, ended up with bad harvests due to drought.
Detailing on Bangladesh's food situation, Razzaque says, "We have enough food in stock. Rice is a staple food (here). Even though the production of wheat fell the production of rice did not go down that much. Rice producers like Thailand and Vietnam have excess rice which they are trying to sell."
The U-turn also involves the government's intention to increase domestic food stock to avoid any future shortfall that could be a drawback in the backyard because of any possible global food crisis.
Bangladesh had produced excess rice in the previous Boro season, which came as an encouragement for the government to export rice but given the new context in the global production scenario the government has decided to shelve the plan, says Food and Disaster Management Minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque in an interview with bdnews24.com .
Razzaque tells bdnews24.com that the government will not be exporting rice or paddy before November as it wants to wait for Aman harvest.
"We will decide on the issue after Aman harvest," he says.
The government is also keeping its eyes on the food situation of other major producers in the world and in case of emergency will import rice and wheat from Vietnam, Thailand and India to increase food reserves, the minister adds.
Experts fear a world-wide food crisis in the ongoing fiscal after the United States, Russia and Ukraine, all key producers of wheat, ended up with bad harvests due to drought.
Detailing on Bangladesh's food situation, Razzaque says, "We have enough food in stock. Rice is a staple food (here). Even though the production of wheat fell the production of rice did not go down that much. Rice producers like Thailand and Vietnam have excess rice which they are trying to sell."
