We are not mixing trade with neighboring countries, said Ali Imam Majumdar, Food Adviser to the interim government, said, "We are not mixing trade with politics. Since India is our closest neighbor and the cost of imports from there is relatively low and cheap, so the products from there continue to come. We also welcome it."
He said this in response to questions from reporters after inspecting the unloading process of rice imported from Myanmar at the Chattagram port on Tuesday (January 21) afternoon.
Ali Imam Majumdar said, Myanmar also wants to sell us more rice. We have signed a contract with them for one lakh tons. They want to sell more. Eight to nine lakh metric tons of rice will come. The government sector often gets eight lakh metric tons of rice. It will come from India, Myanmar and Pakistan. Discussions are underway with Vietnam. Still, we are trying to see if any other benefits can be obtained. We will consider it after looking at the internal and supply conditions of their countries. We are also looking for more sources. We have made arrangements to import 50,000 metric tons of rice from Pakistan. It is already in the final stages.
Asked whether the price of rice is not decreasing even after import, he said, "The first thing here is that the price increase has stopped. The price of coarse rice that is available has decreased by three to five taka. We will continue to import more. There will be no more scope for it to increase. Rather, it will decrease."
Asked by journalists what kind of measures the government is taking to control food prices around Ramadan, he said, "During Ramadan, our Food Ministry, especially rice and wheat, takes care of the most. The remaining items are taken care of by the TCB. It is under the Ministry of Commerce. The TCB has also made extensive preparations. The Food Ministry has started selling two metric tons of rice every day in the upazilas from this month. This will continue during Ramadan as well. A food-friendly program has been launched for 50 lakh people across the country. 50 lakh people from the poor class will get 30 kg of rice per month for 15 taka. I hope that the prices of goods will be tolerable during the month of Ramadan." Adviser Ali Imam Majumdar said, "We are paying more attention to domestic production. We will be the happiest if we cannot bring it from abroad. Unfortunately, we are a disaster-prone country. Disasters come to our country in any way. Disasters really damage our country's crops. If there were no untimely floods this time, we would not have been under so much pressure. We are trying to ensure that the crops are good in the future. Many research laboratories are trying to produce more crops in a very short time. The seeds of research crops that are available are being supplied to farmers, so that crops can be grown in a short time. The population in our country is increasing. Cultivation land is decreasing due to industrialization and urbanization. Many ponds are being built again. This is reducing paddy land. Mango orchards are being established. We are trying to balance everything.
When asked about this, the adviser said, "When we determine the price in the government sector, we take into account both the production cost and the farmer's profit. In that case, if we increase it a little, the farmer will sell." But the price in the market will increase further if the government buys at a higher price. We have to balance there too. We have to look at the issue of protecting the interests of the farmers. Since the crops were damaged in the floods, the total tax on imports has been lifted this time. But this will not be the case forever. If our crops are good, it will not be the case anymore.
At that time, Chittagong Divisional Commissioner Dr. Md. Ziauddin, Director General of the Food Department Abdul Khalek and Port Chairman SM Moniruzzaman were present. Earlier, in the morning, the food adviser inspected the silo under construction in Patenga in the city.