To ensure Food Security ,Bangladesh’s state grains buyer will tender this week to buy 50,000 tonnes of parboiled rice to replenish food reserves, a food official said on Tuesday.

Bangladesh, the world’s fourth biggest rice producer, plans to import 300,000 tonnes of rice in the current fiscal year to the end of June.

“We are going to issue an international tender soon to buy 50,000 tonnes of rice to shore up our stocks,” said an official of the Directorate General of Food who declined to be quoted because he is not authorised to speak to the media.

Market sources said it could be part of a government move to build food reserves after failing to procure enough rice locally. Rice prices have risen over the past few months despite good crops and healthy levels of stocks.

Bangladesh is buying 25,000 tonnes of white rice at $395 per tonne from the Singapore-based Indo-Sino Trade Pte Ltd in an international tender.

Indo-Sino also made the lowest offer at $388.92 a tonne in another Bangladesh tender to buy white rice that closed on Sunday. [ID:nSGE62707X]

In January, the government extended a ban on rice exports until June to curb price increases and ensure availability of the staple in the domestic market.

At that time, the government also started open market sales of rice in the capital and adjoining districts to hold down prices.

The south Asian country produces around 30 million tonnes of rice, normally enough to feed its 150 million people, but often requires imports to cope with shortages due to natural calamities such as floods and droughts.

Bangladesh had to import rice worth $800 million in 2008. (Reporting by Ruma Paul)

 The government of Japan has donated 27,465 tonnes of wheat to Bangladesh to help stiffen relief infrastructure in a nation vulnerable to natural disasters, the Japanese embassy said on Monday.

“The food assistance will be provided through the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to assist 300,000 ultra-poor people of the country to reduce disaster risk through building community infrastructure,” it said.

The consignment was handed to the food and disaster management ministry.

“We hope this Japanese contribution will help to improve household- and community-based infrastructure, minimising the negative impact of natural hazards”, the statement said.

The government of Japan has been one of the key donors to WFP-supported programmes in Bangladesh, giving approximately $20 million since 2007.
Donors support a
number of targete  food-based programmes in Bangladesh that are widely
credited with providing poor people access to food and improving their food
security. However, inefficiency in the food distribution system may be hindering
the realization of the full benefits of these programmes. The International Food
Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) conducted a comprehensive study of the
efficiency of food distribution in food aid-supported programmes in Bangladesh.
The capacity and efficiency of the food distribution system was assessed from
entry ports to targeted beneficiaries. The study identified problems in the
whole food distribution system, determined the level of losses, leakages,

and other lapses at various

Related :

The government wants to ensure sufficient rice supply in the market, Food Minister Abdur Razzak told reporters after the meeting, adding that the government is also considering a proposal to soon import 5 million metric tons of rice.

The Singapore-based Indo-Sino Trade Pte Ltd has won a deal to supply 25,000 tonnes of white rice from Myanmar at $395 per tonne to Bangladesh, officials from the country said on Sunday.

The firm was the lowest bidder at a tender closed on Feb. 8, to supply the rice within 60 days of signing the deal, which will be inked soon.

The firm offered 25,000 tonnes in the tender that sought to buy 50,000 tonnes of the cargo and bidders were allowed to offer a minimum quantity of 10,000 tonnes.

The deal for the remaining 25,000 tonnes will be issued soon with a separate firm after fixing the price.

Food Ministry issued another tender late last month to buy another 50,000 tonnes of white rice to shore up stocks for keeping prices stable in the local market. [nLDE61M0AV]

The new tender was closed on Sunday, but results would be announced later, officials said.

Bangladesh, which imports around 2 million tonnes of wheat annually, has a plan to import 300,000 tonnes of rice this fiscal year to June.

The country, also issued a series of international tenders recently to buy wheat and so far imported 100,000 tonnes of wheat and signed deals to buy 380,000 tonnes more in the current fiscal year.

Bangladesh produces over 30 million tonnes of rice, the staple, sufficient to feed its more than 150 million people,

Realated :

US showing concentration with Bangladesh betterment .The US yesterday unveiled a $210mn plan for helping Bangladesh ensure food security.
US Ambassador James F Moriarty unveiled the plan at a seminar on food security, organised by the ‘local government’ division of the Local Government and Rural Development (LGRD) Ministry and the USAID in Dhaka.
US President Barrack Obama last year committed $1bn annual fund to address global hunger and food security. USAID will launch the $210mn programme in Bangladesh from this fund.
Under this plan, USAID will channel the fund to ensure adequate food supply to the ultra-poor and vulnerable group of the society.
LGRD Minister Syed Ashraful Islam, Food and Disaster Management Minister Dr Abdur Razzak also addressed the seminar.
Referring to different programmes for food security, Syed Ashraf said those programmes had already started enhancing food security.
He, however, suggested non-government organisations (NGOs) to contribute more to strengthen the social safety net and development initiatives of the present government.
Dr Razzak also emphasized the government social safety net programme, which had already increased food allocation for the poor.
The Food Minister, however, raised concern over the impact of climate change on food production and sought more funds from the development partners to address the issue.
James F Moriarty said his government would also increase its investment in agriculture and health sectors besides the fund for food security.
He lauded Bangladesh’s progress in improving the food security for the people, but cautioned about some external and internal causes, which could hinder the progress.

Tea garden sand is agricultural sand which gives us a great amount of economy help in Bangladesh. But some people are using this sand for buildings, multistoried buildings for mitigating the housing demand. Developer developing their business but they are destroying Bangladesh economy. This can create a great disaster in Bangladesh economy tea export business.

 Land Minister Mohammad Rezaul Karim Hira yesterday strictly directed the owners of the tea gardens not to extract sand from inside and adjoining areas of the gardens and stop selling saplings.

“The lease holders of the tea gardens are unlawfully extracting sand and cutting hill trees in an unplanned manner,” he said as the chief guest while inaugurating training workshop of farmers on ‘Modern method to cultivate soybean’ at regional agriculture preservation centre of Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI) in Jamalpur.

Dr Mohammad Ehsanul Haque, Director of BARI, presided over the program.

The Land Minister stressed on preserving of agriculture lands. He said that non-agriculture land could be used for building multistoried buildings for mitigating the housing demand.

“It is possible to attain food autarky and fulfillment of nutrition by giving proper training to farmers to produce high bred food,” he said.

He blamed the Chhatra Shibir for unleashing a reign of terror in the educational institutions.

People have to think about it that the land which will give us gold in future that we are destroying in present. Further there will not be any tea garden if this is going on & on.

At Bangladesh economy the daily essential product is hiking day by day. People now even think to bye those product. Oil, powder milk, rice eveerythings price was highly rated. The urban poor are typically most affected as many rural households grow at least some of their food needs. Higher prices have pushed many more people into poverty, but the increase in the number of poor is only part of the emerging costs of the crisis. The more profound consequence is the impact of rising prices on households who were already poor. For those already struggling to meet their daily food and nutrient needs, the double shock of food and fuel price rises represents a threat to basic survival. The poorest households are reducing the quantity and/or quality of the food, schooling, and basic services that they consume, leading to irreparable damage to the health and education of millions of children. 2010 brings new challenges to the pursuit of food security in Bangladesh
The central bank of Bangladesh on Monday recommended adoption of appropriate and effective measures to curb higher food prices to avoid administrative interventions that may hit supply channels of the essentials.

Bangladesh Bank (BB), the country’s central bank, also suggested it may initiate a comprehensive investigative study of the emergence of speculative influences by oligopolies in the market

“Rise in food price inflation, being politically sensitive, is often blamed in Bangladesh on ’syndicates’ or oligopolistic influences, but without hard evidence or data,” the central bank said in its latest quarterly report, released on Monday. The report also said it is true that in recent years, the domestic markets of food crops and other edibles are getting increasingly more “organized” and “integrated,” with growing influence of larger players in smaller numbers.

“Speculators will also join these oligopolistic influences in creating bubbles in food prices as and when future markets of commodities are activated,” it added.

Any bank interventions would compound problems by obstructing and choking off supply channels, limiting the ability to provide the target population groups with temporary relief by way of cash subsidies or food supplies at affordable prices, according to the Bangladesh Bank Quarterly (BBQ) for October-December 2009.

The rising trends in prices of major commodities such as rice, petroleum and sugar fueled partly by speculation on international futures markets, are likely to retain the upward pressure in domestic consumer prices in the second half of this fiscal, the central bank noted.

The Social Protection Response
In the face of rising food and fuel prices, social protection programs can play a key role in
Forestalling increases in poverty, with wider developmental, social and even political benefits. By helping to prevent increases in poverty, social protection programs help households maintain access to food, energy, and essential services. Social safety nets can also reduce the impact of economic shocks on health and education. Furthermore, when social protection programs are perceived as fair and compensatory, they can be important in maintaining social equilibrium and preventing social unrest

“Make best use of all facilities sponsored by our government. Increase food production to build a food-sufficient Bangladesh so that we do not have to rely on others for food. If we want to save the country, our farmers and agriculture will have to be saved,” Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said

The PM was addressing the inaugural function of the newly introduced Agri-input Assistance Card and Cash Assistance programme for the country’s farmers
The new smart card scheme for farmers designed to increase productivity and reduce fraud.
Almost 20 million small or medium-sized farms in Bangladesh will eventually get the card, which will allow them to open bank accounts with just a few cents.

It will allow the government to pay subsidies directly to them, cutting out middlemen and embezzlers.

They currently siphon off a large proportion of the government’s help.

The first use of the card will be to distribute a $100m fuel subsidy.

The cards will also contain information on the land the farmers have under cultivation, the crops they produce and the fertilisers they will need.

“An interactive database of farmers has been prepared to run in conjunction with the scheme,” said Agriculture Secretary Mustaq Ahmed, “which will help the government make detailed analysis of the inputs that farmers need.

“We can then make efficient planning for agriculture, while farmers who have never been linked to the banks will become more money-literate once they start going to them.

“They will then begin to take loans from banks – instead of rural moneylenders who charge high interest rates for farmers. It will also make farmers more aware of modern agriculture technologies.”

It is hoped that the initiatives would bring “revolutionary change to the agricultural sector

Vegetable is one of the essential food items for growth and maintenance of health of human beings. In the months of December to March varieties of vegetables are available throughout Bangladesh. But in the rest of the year frequently people confront tremendous shortage of vegetables. Bangladesh is pre-dominantly an agricultural country with rich soil condition and climate. Numerous types of vegetables could also be grown over here in April to November. It is matter of regret that after four decades of independence we could not produce enough vegetables for the people.Other hand if we use our potentials we also can earn a huge amont of foreign currency by vegetable exporting .

One suitable sadar union in every rural upzila and unions surrounding cities and district towns should be ear marked, especially for vegetable production. Types of vegetable are to be selected on the basis of soil condition, climate and season. Government has to extend necessary inputs for vegetable production at the doorsteps of the farmers. Farmers should be motivated to grow vegetables.

Vegetables generate cash to the growers. It would help to reduce dependence on rice. We know modern science says that eating excess rice, which we do in general, is not good from the health point of view.

Documentary film may be made on each vegetable showing different important aspects like, transplant seedlings, plant cultivation, insect protection, use of fertilizer, harvesting, storing and grading, selling vegetable etc. and storing vegetable seeds for future use. The documentary should be telecasted repeatedly through available electronic media.

Owing to budgetary procedural limitation innovative or experimental projects could hardly be taken by the relevant ministry or its attached offices. A special additional allocation — may be 3% to 5% of the revenue allocation per annum — could be given extra to each ministry with delegated authority to undertake and implement innovative or experimental projects.