Bangladesh, Sunday, December 2, 2007


CS Karim Agriculture Adviser CS Karim yesterday said cyclone SIDR has damaged crops worth about Tk 2,000 crore on some 5.53 lakh hectares of land in 30 districts, but ruled out the possibility of any food shortage or crisis in the country.

Of the damaged crops, he said, Aman paddy was damaged on 4.18 lakh hectares of land and it will bring down this year's farm output by 8 lakh tons.

Addressing a press briefing at the PID conference room, the Adviser said the country now needs to import a total of 19 lakh metric tons of rice and the government has already moved for the import of 5 lakh tons while the donors have promised to provide another 5 lakh tons. "We hope, the rest 9 lakh mts would be imported by the private sector," he said.

Joint Secretary of the Food Ministry Shafiqul Islam, who was present at the press briefing, said Tk 1,500 crore has been allocated for the import of 5 lakh tons. "So, there will be no monetary problem for the import," he added.

Agriculture Secretary Abdul Aziz said the total food production is likely to go down to 3.08 tons from the targeted 3.20 crore tons due to the recent floods and cyclone.
At present, he said, there are 7.26 lakh mts of food in stock and the country needs a total of 19 lakh mts of food to ensure food security.

Joint secretary of the Food Ministry Shafiqul Islam said the special VGF programme, which was scheduled to be launched in the cyclone affected areas today (Dec 1), could not be started.

He, however, could not confirm when the special VGF programme will start. "We've started listing names of the cyclone victims and it'll take days to complete it," he said.

Director General of Seeds Wing of the Agriculture Ministry Anwar Faruque said the government has taken up a comprehensive programme for the cyclone-affected areas to distribute seeds of 10 high value crops as part of rehabilitation move.

Under the programme, he said, the affected farmers would get seeds of various vegetables and other crops for immediate cultivation.