Food Minister Advocate Quamrul Islam termed Bangladesh as a food surplus country and said the country secured the fourth position in rice production in the world.
“The BNP left the country as a food deficit one in 2006… But the government led by Sheikh Hasina attained the food autarky after coming to power”, Quamrul said this on Saturday while inaugurating the ongoing food distribution programme as the chief guest at Keraniganj.
The minister said Bangladesh is now exporting rice due to surplus food production.
Chaired by Keraniganj Upazila Nirbahi Officer Abul Bashar Mohammad Fakhruzzaman, the meeting also was attended by Director General of the Department of Food M Badrul Hasan as the special guest.
The minister said the government would provide Taka 2200 crore as subsidy for distributing rice at Taka 10 per kg among the poor people.
Under the food distribution programme, the government will provide rice to some 55 lakh poor families across the country, he said. Each family will get 30 kg rice in a month at a cost of Taka 10 per kg, Quamrul added.
He said this is not actually subsidy but an incentive to the poor people of the country.
The programme will run in five months-September, October, November, March and April, the minister said.
Quamrul said the government would not tolerate any irregularities in rice distribution programme.
