In the fiscal year 2020-21, the consumption (import and production) of rice and wheat in the country was about 4.54 crore tonnes, but it has come down to 4.44 crore tonnes in the just-concluded FY2023.
As a result, the supply of the two staple crops dropped slightly during the post-Covid period, which had an impact on the market. The prices of rice and flour are on the rise. In the last 10 months of the last fiscal year, Tk 1 lakh 5 thousand crore was spent on import of agricultural and food products.
The information was revealed on the last day of a two-day ‘Asia-Pacific Right to Food and Agricultural Food System Conference 2023’ held in the capital on Thursday.
Bangladesh Agricultural Journalist Forum General Secretary Shahanuare Shaid Shahin delivered the keynote speech at the conference held at Dhaka University’s Nabab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Building.
With Christian Aid Country Director Nuzhat Zebin in the chair, the closing session was addressed by former professor of Bangladesh Agricultural University Abdul Hamid, joint secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development of Nepal Sanjeev Kumar Karn and senior expert of SAARC Agricultural Center Dr. Sikandar Khan Tanveer.
In his keynote paper, Shaid Shahin said the production of nine major agricultural and food grains in the country in the FY2017-18 was 6.34 lakh tonnes. It increased to 7 crore 50 thousand tonnes in the FY23.
Several recommendations were put forward at the closing session of the conference, including developing climate resilient and environment-friendly agricultural systems to protect small and marginal farmers, ensuring the Right to Food Act for all, strengthening people-friendly agriculture and food systems rather than corporate-controlled agriculture systems to make agriculture and food systems sustainable and building multilateral partnerships in agriculture and food systems.
