Even though the government often claims that Bangladesh has attained the production of food grains, especially paddy, we continue to import a large quantity of rice from the global market, leaving our people at risk to the vagaries of global price volatility. The country imported some 2.65 million tonnes of rice in the fiscal 2020-21, the second highest rice importing country after China, which imported 4.5 million tonnes of rice.
When the government is claiming to be self-contained in terms of food grains autarky, especially rice, the huge figure regarding the rice import is quite frustrating. Although the government was able to meet the demand of rice with the paddy produced locally in the first few years of the last decade, it has been importing rice on a regular basis since 2013. Besides, the price of rice is higher here than the international market.
Experts say Bangladesh could not achieve food sufficiency as it is still largely dependent on other countries for the import of rice and wheat. If the import dependency increases, it ultimately affects the local farmers. Besides, achieving food self-sufficiency is very important to avert any kind of risk and dependency on others. For this, the government has to pay attention to how to increase the local production by utilising the available lands. Every year there are losses of food grains by natural calamities and disasters. This year too, around three lakh tonnes of rice on 18 thousand acres of land was lost due to disaster.
Meanwhile, about the reason for the import of rice, the agriculture minister has recently said consumption of different kinds of foods, including rice, is increasing. Besides, the demand for rice is increasing in different sectors, including fodder of poultry and cattle. He, however, said the country’s production of paddy is increasing every year. But can this extended production meet the demand of the growing population? If it could, there would be no need for rice imports. If we take the import of 7.2 million tonnes of wheat into account, then the amount of staple grain imports would be around 10 million tonnes per year. In that case, the claim to be self-sufficient in food grain production is nothing but a tall talk.
According to official sources, the country’s annual consumption requirement of rice is 35 million tonnes. Therefore, the government must carry out an all-out effort to increase rice production to that level to meet the growing demand of increasing population.
