Food grain imports rise to 5.73m tonnes in 8 months

Country's food grain imports increased more than 5.73 million tonnes in the eight months of the current fiscal compared to the previous fiscal due mainly to lower local wheat production and import of finer variety of rice, ministry sources said.
Rice and wheat imports rose to 2.46 million tonnes between July 1 and March 11 from 1.88 million tonnes in the whole fiscal year of 2012-13, according to food ministry data.
High domestic rice production had helped reduce dependence on import in the previous fiscal year.
From July to March 11 this year, rice imports surged to 0.37 million tonnes from only 28,930 tonnes during the entire period of last fiscal year.
Wheat imports rose by 78 per cent to 2.04 million tonnes in nine months since July.
Political unrest, marked by transportation blockades, over the last few months ahead of January 5 national election boycotted by the main opposition had crippled the country's supply chain, sending annual inflation higher for the second month in a row in December.
Meanwhile, despite lower price of food grain in international market the domestic price remained high even after the sufficient import.
The price difference between domestic and international markets has encouraged the private sector to import as they get a good margin, Azizul Bari, a rice importer said.
M. A. Taslim, a Dhaka University Professor said statistics suggest, that the country was never really self-sufficient in cereal production, it had to import a substantial quantity of it to meet the domestic demand.  
He said the rapid increase in the use of irrigation and chemical fertiliser (together with improved seeds) led to the fairly high rate of increase in rice production.
"The demand for food increases due to both an increase in population and an increase in income." he added.
Mohammad Afzal, an agriculturist suggested up-gradation of agri sector to a "commercial business platform" by allowing producers to form an Association, ensure guaranteed pricings before the sowing season, introduce crop insurance and setting up of storage facilities.
Dr. S.M. Jalil. President, Forestry and Environment Forum, Bangladesh said to achieve desired food production, the investments required are basic capital-the land and the environment. "Therefore, we not only need to ensure sustainable production of desired food content, the improvement and simultaneous protection of our precious land and environment are our obligatory function," he noted.
Rice is the staple food for Bangladesh's 160 million people while wheat consumption is rising, with domestic production having stagnated at nearly 1 million tonnes.