16.79 lakh tonnes of food remain in public godowns, Food minister

Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder on Tuesday said an estimated 16.79 lakh tonnes foodgrains stock remain in the public sector food godowns.

"An estimated 16.79lakh tonnes foodgrains now in stock in government food godowns as per the estimate prepared in last week", said the minister while responding to a query raised by treasury bench lawmaker M Anwarul Azim Anar ofJenaidah-4 at the question-answer session at the Jatiya Sangsad here.

Of the foodgrains stock, 14.38 lakh tonnes are rice and 2.41lakh tonnes are wheat, said the minister while expressing his satisfaction over the stock situation, Majumder told the parliament chaired by Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury.

To raise country's food stock, the minister said the government has taken a programme of import and internal procurement of rice and wheat from local and overseas sources.

From the local sources, he said decisions have been taken to purchase over 5.67 lakh tonnes of parboiled rice and 50,000 tonnes atap rice under the current aman procurement season.

In the current 2023-24 national budget, he said the government has allocated money for the import 6.50 lakh tonnes of wheat and 1.50 lakh rice. Over 3.57 lakh tonnes of wheat already have been imported till last week and unloading is going on for the rest of the wheat under the agreement.