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Rezaul Karim Byron, The Daily Star, 04 May 2008
The good news is the country at present has no shortage of food grains due to a bumper Boro harvest in progress and a huge import in the recent months.
But the bad news is food grains will continue to be high-priced in the months to come.
Latest estimates of the food ministry put the demand for rice and wheat in the current fiscal year at 2.60 crore tonnes while net production of the crops at 2.59 crore, meaning a deficit of only one lakh tonne.
This apart, organisations in private and public sectors have imported 34.73 lakh tonnes of grains including 21 lakh tonnes of rice from July 1 to April 24. This is 91 percent up on the corresponding period last fiscal year.
During the same period, importers have opened letters of credit (L/C) for import of 50.56 lakh more tonnes of food grains including 33 lakh tonnes of rice.
According to calculations taking into account the food imports, Bangladesh now should have a grain surplus of over 33 lakh tonnes.
Back-to-back floods and Cyclone Sidr last year damaged at least 18 lakh tonnes of standing crops, posing a serious threat to the country’s food security.
In this context, both the government and private sector concentrated their efforts on importing food grains to recover the deficit.
However, things began to change for the better at the start of Boro harvest last month.
Explaining how the demand for food grains and deficit were calculated, a food ministry source said the country’s population this year was estimated to be 14.56 crore. Then there was an approximate calculation that each individual requires 489 grammes of food a day. And this all put the annual demand at 2.60 crore tonnes.
On the supply side, production of Aus and Aman was 1.05 crore tonnes in FY 08 while it was 1.23 crore in the previous year.
Boro has already made good much of the shortfall resulting from floods and the cyclone. It is estimated that the yield this season will be around 1.75 crore tonnes while wheat 8 lakh tonnes.
The net food production in that case will stand at 2.59 crore tonnes–just one lakh tonne shy of the total demand.
Despite the positive developments, prices of food grains are not going to come down anytime soon, food ministry officials and economists alike predict.
According to Trading Corporation Bangladesh (TCB) report, the price of coarse rice ranged between Tk 33 and Tk 35 a kg a week ago. It did the same yesterday showing that Boro harvest and import did not yet have an effect on the price situation.
The trend will continue, said a food ministry official. “It’s because the production cost has shot up by 54 percent in one year,” he added.
On the other hand, import price too has increased sharply due to a global food crisis. The price of rice on the international market is increasing on a daily basis with many countries resorting to restrictions on export of their rice.
Meanwhile, five major rice exporting countries including Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar have agreed in principle to launch a platform styled OREC (Organisation of Rice Exporting Countries) to control rice prices on global market.
Thailand, the biggest rice exporter, has already said it wants to form an Opec-style cartel comprising Mekong nations to gain more control over international prices.
Talking to The Daily Star last night, Uttam Kumar Deb, head of research division at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), said if they really go on to create a cartel the price of rice will increase and at the same time availability of the staple will decrease.
“So, Bangladesh should try to increase the production to meet the deficit,” he observed adding that a hard time is ahead as supply even in the international market will be limited.
He also said though the farmers are having a bumper Boro crop, the price would not mark any significant decrease as both production cost and scarcity of food grains in the world market have increased.
Uttam said how much the price of rice would decrease depends on whether the farmers would be able to gather the crop safely in the next few days.
About the food ministry estimates, he said there should be measures to have actual data regarding production and demand for food grains.
He said the demand should be calculated on the basis of an updated population census.
Staff Correspondent, Bogra, The Daily Star, 13 May 2008
The government will import rice from neighbouring India despite bumper Boro production in the country this season, said Food and Disaster Management Adviser Dr AMM Shawkat Ali.
“If necessary, the government will procure rice beyond the target in this Boro season,” he told journalists while answering to questions at a meeting on Boro paddy procurement and food situation at Bogra Circuit House yesterday.
The adviser said though price of rice have increased in the international markets, Bangladesh is importing rice from India at $430 per metric tonnes as per contract.
He also said steps have been taken to use the godowns of Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) to meet the space crisis in godowns.
Responding to the observations of rice mill owners and businessmen that they face problems for power cuts, the adviser said government has already taken measures to ensure uninterrupted power supply for rice mills.
Bogra Deputy Commissioner Humayun Kabir presided over the meeting while Divisional Commissioner Hafizur Rahman Bhuiyan, Bogra District Rice Mill Owners Association President Aminul Haque spoke.
Our Correspondent, Sirajganj, The Daily Star, 05 September 2007, Wednesday
With recession of flood water, there are signs of devastation all around but farmers are in fields with new hopes to grow Amon paddy and early winter vegetables. Sirajganj was the worst affected district with most areas of its nine upazilas reeling under waters from Mighty Jamauna this year.
According to district agriculture officials’ estimate, at least Tk 72 crore crops including paddy, jute, sugarcane and vegetables on 47,407 hectares were damaged by flood.
Sources in Agriculture Extension Department (AED) said there are 56,124 hectares of cultivable land in 81 unions in nine upazilas of the district. The flood damaged crops on 22,762 hectares fully and 24,645 hectares partially, affecting about 230000 families.
With recession of flood water, AED with assistance of district administration and Army has taken a post flood rehabilitation programme. Under the programme, the government has sanctioned Tk 4 crore and Tk 2 crore of it has been made available to assist farmers in cultivation of rice and vegetables, AED sources said.
This correspondent visited different areas of the district, where farmers said they face crisis Amon seedlings and fertilizer, which hamper cultivation. They are collecting seedlings from far away places at high prices as the seedbeds had gone under flood water.
Adul Kader of Tarash said that he sowed Amon seeds on one and half bigha of land. All reeled under water. He has purchased seedlings at Tk 300 per 80 bundles which were sold at between Tk 70 and Tk 80 last year.
AED officials said they have set a target to bring 50220 hectares under Amon cultivation.
Many farmers said they are transplanting Amon seedlings for the second time in about a month as the first transplantation was damaged by flood.
Some farmers said they have borrowed from local moneylenders to cultivate crops after flood.
All of them said they now need smooth supply of fertiliser.
A hiogh official of the district administration seeking anonymity said the government allotment of Tk 2 crore is too inadequate to the needs.
AED Deputy Director Khandaker Hasibur Rahman said they are preparing lists of affected farmers who will get the assistance.
He said about 89,033 tonnes of urea fertiliser are needed for the district this season but they have a stock of about 3755.50 tonnes.
Army sources said they have also started seedlings distribution among affected farmers. As a part of the programme, Bogra Brigade Commander Brig. Gen. Emadul Huq (PSC) distributed seedlings among farmers at Ghurka Beltola on 25 August. Brig. Gen. A K M Mahfuzul Huq (PSC) also distributed seedlings at Raiganj on 29 August.
United News of Bangladesh . Chapainawabganj, The Daily New Age, 10 November 2007
FARMERS of Chapainawabganj may not achieve the target of boro and wheat cultivation due to acute seed crisis.
According to the local Department of Agriculture Extension, a target has been set to cultivate boro on 44,940 hectares of land while wheat on 15,000 hectares in the district during the current season. The farmers need 990 tonnes of boro seeds and 1,800 tonnes of wheat seeds to achieve the target.
A number of farmers said they would start preparing boro seedbeds and wheat cultivation in the middle of the current month. But they are apprehending that they might not achieve the target as the Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation and its appointed dealers have failed to supply them with adequate seeds.
The farmers said usually they store seeds every season but they failed to store seeds this year due to flood and other natural calamities and were now depending on BADC’s seed due to its high quality and reasonable price.
Local agricultural officials, however, denied the seed crisis and said that farmers had stocked sufficient despite natural calamities but they were depending on BADC’s seeds due to its high quality and reasonable price.
Assistant director of the local BADC Hasan Toufiqur Rahman said the BADC received 75 tonnes of seeds for boro cultivation in the district and of the total, 14 tonnes were sanctioned for its sale centre and the rest seed to its 16 dealers. He also said the sale centre sold out the seeds during the last part of October and dealers had almost finished their quota. He further said the BADC had urged the higher authorities to sanction more seven tonnes of boro seed to meet the increasing demand.
BADC officials said 130 tonnes of wheat seeds had been allocated for the district, which will be available within a week. The farmers will have to manage the rest of the seeds.
EDITORIAL
The Daily Star, 17 May 2008
BUT for the boro bumper, good wheat crop and abundance of potatoes we would have been in dire straits in a food-short world today. Our farmers can be credited with rising from the catastrophic floods and Sidr with a firm determination to make up for the losses. They have proved that with their will and government’s assistance, the farmers can work wonders.
The government should exactly know to what extent their fuel subsidy, distribution of seeds and fertiliser and special irrigation connections paid dividends. The overarching fact is, however, that the farmers diligently and prudently used every inch of land they could plough — furrows, beels, haors and even some arid lands that were previously written off. That is where our potential lies for optimising land use in a situation where urbanisation, industrialisation, expansion of habitat and land erosion threaten to reduce land:man ratio even more adversely.
The global context marked by a shift from cereal to biofuel production has lessened food output in cereal exporting countries. Even their contribution to WFP is declining, not to speak of the export ban they have clamped. All this impels us to concentrate on and step up domestic agricultural productivity and maintain our own buffer stock of food to see us through rainy days. Even we can export rice for the good of others.
Thus, our national focus ought to be now on agriculture and alleviation of farmers’ economic and working conditions. The pledge made by the chief adviser in Dinajpur who called farmers ‘the national heroes’ to prioritise agriculture in the national budget ought to be translated into reality in some identifiable areas of concern. First and foremost, soil fertility issue has to be addressed squarely. Over time, our land fertility has declined due to indiscriminate or erroneous use of fertilisers, pesticides and insecticides, or lack of nurture. Besides, importantly, the water table has gone down. Shrimp culture and surging tide in the sea have led to salinity intrusion into cultivable lands. The BRRI is credited with having evolved new water resistant varieties of seed. Its potential has to be fully realised in collaboration with successful rice institutes in the region. All these point to the pressing need for vigorous agricultural research with adequate budgetary provisions made for the same. No measly amounts would do any more, nor a visionless approach to the future.
One fundamental weakness in agriculture management has been the sidestepping of the agricultural marketing imperatives. The farmers must get remunerative price for their produces. This requires two things: one, keeping the cost of production low and allowing them to sell their produce without having to go through middlemen. The idea of having wholesale markets dispersed in closer proximity to farming households is a good one.
Last but not least, storage facilities will have to string out all over the country if we have to curb the huge amounts of crop wastes we incur every year.
Obaidul Ghani, The Daily New Age, 17 May 2008
The boro procurement is yet to gain pace because of a large gap between the price of rice on the market and the price set by the government, market sources said.
Frequent power outages are also hampering the regular supply of rice by millers and the early fixation of the price by the government has contributed to the price gap, rice suppliers and market sources said on Friday.
Most farmers are reluctant to sell their rice immediately after harvest thinking that the price might go up further when the government will begin procurement drive in full swing, they said.
Sources said the government was mounting pressure on the millers to increase the supply of rice, but the millers were unable to buy rice for the price set by the government.
Paddy now sells for Tk 850 a maund (37.33kg), but the government has set the rate at Tk 720, they said.
The government in the first-phase procurement ending on May 15 has been able to procure 35,360 tonnes of rice against the target of 2,75,750 tonnes.
Paddy procurement in the period was only 6,190 tonnes, but about 70 per cent of the boro has been harvested, said officials at the Department of Agricultural Extension.
It is unlikely for the government to fulfil the boro procurement target in time and is likely to extend the period, said Mohammad Habib, a rice supplier in Kushtia.
The government needs to increase the procurement price; it will, otherwise, be impossible for the government to control the market, said BRAC’s executive director Mahbub Hossain.
The government at any cost needs to increase the local procurement by at least 15 to 20 lakh tonnes to control the local market as the rice price on the international market is around $900 a tonne, he said.
According to statistics of the food department, the procurement in the Dhaka division till Thursday was 9,500 tonnes or rice against the target of 50,000 tonnes.
Only about 19,000 tonnes out of targeted 2,08,000 tonnes rice were collected from the Rajshahi division and the procurement in the Khulna division stood at 6,000 tonnes against the target of 15,000 tonnes.
In Chittagong, about 800 tonnes were collected against the target of 2,200 tonnes, and in Sylhet only 60 tonnes against the target of 550 tonnes.
The total procurement of paddy was 6,190 tonnes together from the Dhaka, Rajshahi, Khulna, Chittagong, Barisal and Sylhet divisions, said sources in the food department.
The boro procurement in 2008 began on April 16 and it will continue till August 31, and the price of a kilogram of rice has been set at Tk 28 and of paddy at Tk 18.
In 2007, the government procured 7,10,000 tonnes of rice and 6,500 tonnes of paddy against the target of 10 lakh tonnes rice and 3 lakh tonnes paddy at the price of Tk 18 a kilogram of rice and Tk 11.25 of paddy.
Amader Krishi (Agriculture of Bangladesh) 