Govt to expand sales of subsidised rice, wheat
Sonia H Moni | Saturday, 26 March 2011
Sonia H Moni
The government will expand the sale of rice and wheat at subsidised prices to 6.7 million ultra poor people of 4,500 unions across the country, officials said. Food Directorate head Ahmed Hossain Khan told the FE, "Earlier, the government had a plan to provide these facilities to 1000 ultra poor people of each union, but following a change in the programme 1500 ultra poor people would now get it." He said, "We have already started this programme in 70 to 80 per cent areas of the country. It will take a few more days to start the sale in a full-fledged way as the preparation of new lists of ultra poor and the appointment of new dealers are on." Under the new programme, an individual will get 10 kg of rice and 15 kg of wheat every month at Tk 24 and Tk 20 per kg respectively. State-appointed two dealers in each union will sell the cheap rice through outlets. The price of the government's subsidised rice is at least 50 per cent less than the local market price while wheat is 40 per cent cheaper. He said under this subsidised food supply programme, 6.7 million ultra-poor will get more than 67,000 tonnes of rice and more than 100,000 tonnes of wheat a month and this arrangement will continue during the most part of the year. "Our aim is to protect the ultra-poor people from high food prices. We want to keep the prices within their means," he said and added that cheap food distribution in some places could be staggered due to logistical problems. Mr Khan said "Primarily we are not able to distribute fair price cards to all the ultra-poor people but we will start distributing fair price cards after preparation of the new list of selected poor people to ensure that only the targeted people get the cheap food." Officials expressed the hope that the latest subsidised food supply programme would help drive down rice and wheat prices in the market. The government has already launched the open market sale of subsidised rice across the country in the face of sky rocketing prices of food in the local market. Officials blamed the tight global supply for the high domestic prices of food. On Friday, according to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), coarse rice was selling at Tk 33-36 per kg in Dhaka, marking a rise of 30.19 per cent over a period of last one year. Wheat was selling at Tk 30-35 per kg, recording a 44.44 per cent hike in the past twelve months, it said.
The government will expand the sale of rice and wheat at subsidised prices to 6.7 million ultra poor people of 4,500 unions across the country, officials said. Food Directorate head Ahmed Hossain Khan told the FE, "Earlier, the government had a plan to provide these facilities to 1000 ultra poor people of each union, but following a change in the programme 1500 ultra poor people would now get it." He said, "We have already started this programme in 70 to 80 per cent areas of the country. It will take a few more days to start the sale in a full-fledged way as the preparation of new lists of ultra poor and the appointment of new dealers are on." Under the new programme, an individual will get 10 kg of rice and 15 kg of wheat every month at Tk 24 and Tk 20 per kg respectively. State-appointed two dealers in each union will sell the cheap rice through outlets. The price of the government's subsidised rice is at least 50 per cent less than the local market price while wheat is 40 per cent cheaper. He said under this subsidised food supply programme, 6.7 million ultra-poor will get more than 67,000 tonnes of rice and more than 100,000 tonnes of wheat a month and this arrangement will continue during the most part of the year. "Our aim is to protect the ultra-poor people from high food prices. We want to keep the prices within their means," he said and added that cheap food distribution in some places could be staggered due to logistical problems. Mr Khan said "Primarily we are not able to distribute fair price cards to all the ultra-poor people but we will start distributing fair price cards after preparation of the new list of selected poor people to ensure that only the targeted people get the cheap food." Officials expressed the hope that the latest subsidised food supply programme would help drive down rice and wheat prices in the market. The government has already launched the open market sale of subsidised rice across the country in the face of sky rocketing prices of food in the local market. Officials blamed the tight global supply for the high domestic prices of food. On Friday, according to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), coarse rice was selling at Tk 33-36 per kg in Dhaka, marking a rise of 30.19 per cent over a period of last one year. Wheat was selling at Tk 30-35 per kg, recording a 44.44 per cent hike in the past twelve months, it said.