'Lack of accurate market statistics causes imbalance in demand-supply'

Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi said on Sunday that balancing demand with supply of essentials becomes difficult due to lack of accurate statistics on food production and consumption.

He was speaking as the chief guest at a programme on "Bangladesh's 50 Years of Agriculture Transformation and Achievement" organised by Bangladesh Agricultural Journalists Forum (BAJF) and Bangla daily Bonik Barta at a city hotel.

Talking about onions he said, “I have become restless due to the recent burning demand of onions.”

“There is a problem with statistics. We need 24-25 lakh tonnes of onions. The production is also 25-26 lakh tonnes. Then why is there a shortage? In that case the narrative is that about 20 per cent of our onions are wasted,” the minister said.

The government is working to originate high yielding onions to increase production and preservation of onion in the right way to reduce the waste, he said.

“We want to produce surplus onion but it needs three to five years to achieve this,” Tipu Munshi said.

State Minister for Planning Shamsul Alam spoke at the function as the special guest.

Agriculture economist and professor of Bangladesh Agriculture University Muhammad Jahangir Hossain presented a key note paper on agro product marketing.

Director General of Livestock Research Institute Jahangir Alam, former DG of Fisheries Directorate Syed Arif Azad, Lalteer livestock Chairman Abdul Awal Mintu, Managing Director of Islami Bank Limited Mohammed Monirul Moula, Managing Director of Aftab Bahumukhi Farms Limited Abu Lutfe Fazle Rahim Khan also spoke in the function.

Bonik Barta Editor Dewan Hanif Mahmud moderated the programme.