Tough anti-hoarding law to combat artificial price hike
FE Report | Monday, 7 March 2011
FE Report
Food and Disaster Management Minister Dr Muhammad Abdur Razzaque said Sunday food prices will come down to a "tolerable level" once an anti-hoarding bill is passed in the parliament. "At present, we don't have any effective tool to check hoarding by unscrupulous traders that often leads to price spiral in the market," Razzaque said at the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) office in Dhaka. He said the government has drafted a tough anti-hoarding law and it will be placed in the parliament very soon. "Once the bill is enacted, it will give the government enough power to crack down on hoarders," he added. "If the proposed act comes into effect, we hope it will be possible to curb artificial hike in commodity prices to some extent," he told a meeting on Country Investment Plan (CIP) in Agriculture, Food Security and Nutrition. The minister said the government has also launched National Food Policy Action (2008-2015) and formulated a five-year Country Investment Plan (CIP) worth US$10 billion for the agriculture, food security and nutrition. "We have a target to achieve food sufficiency by 2020 as the present government is committed to ensuring three meals a day for every citizen of the country," he said. The MCCI and Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) jointly organised the discussion. Representatives from development partners, members from the business community, financial institutions, think-tanks, civil society, academicians and other stakeholders of agricultural sector took part in the discussion. The MCCI President, Major General (Retd) Mr. Amjad Khan Chowdhury chaired the discussion. FAO Representative Ad Spijkers made introductory speech. Barrister Nihad Kabir, Vice-President of the MCCI, gave vote of thanks. USAID Mission chief in Bangladesh Ms. Denise Rollins and principal officer plant production and protection division of agriculture and consumer protection department of FAO Mr. Peter Kenmore were present as special guests. General Manager (GM) of Agriculture Credit Department of Bangladesh Bank (BB) SM Moniruzzaman read out a written speech of the BB Governor Dr Atiur Rahman as he could not attend the meeting. The food minister said the prices of the country's staple food rice were high because soaring population has put a lot of pressure on demand and supply scenario. He said of the $10 billion investment planned for the farm sector, the government will finance $3.0 billion from its budgets and the rest $7.0 billion will come from development partners. The minister said the World Bank and other donors have agreed to give more fund to the key sector. He said the government will mainly act as the facilitator in the farm sector. "Agriculture in Bangladesh is mostly a private sector activity. Millions of our farmers are entrepreneurs engaged in production-oriented activities. Thousands of processors, millers, wholesalers and the retailers are all private sector players," he said. "Both input and output markets are governed by private traders. The government is mainly facilitating the processes and acting when market ceases to act efficiently," he said. "We need to harness the range of opportunities and the potential win-win situation in public-private partnership," Dr Razzaque added. "Though the private sector has achieved success in different sectors, there are also unsuccessful stories such as the aviation sector". MCCI president Major General (Retd) Amjad Khan Chowdhury stressed the need for proper implementation of the farm sector projects, saying they are crucial for creating jobs and shoring up food security in the country. He urged the government to firmly act against fragmentation of land, which he says is depleting soil fertility and cutting production. "Land fragmentation is a big threat to our agriculture and development," he said. "More than 10 per cent of the farm households are absolutely landless owning. About 40 per cent of households own between 0.05 to 0.49 acres and may be qualified as marginal farmers," Chowdhury said, quoting government statistics. "Some 50 per cent of households fall in small farm category owning between 0.50 to 02.49 acres. Of the total, about half own between 0.50 to 0.99 acres and this percentage is growing with further fragmentation of land thanks to population growth. "Medium-sized farms of 2.5 to 7.49 acres comprise about 10 per cent of farm households. Just over one per cent of households own 7.5 acres and above," the MCCI president said. "It is difficult to eke out a living from these tiny farms. A part could be higher than the rest impacting on requirement of irrigation or the crop to be cultivated. A family needs at least two acres of land to survive," he added. He also highlighted the importance of dairy sector for achieving food security by way of improving nutritional intake in daily meals and creating wealth in rural areas. Chowdhury said to grow crop a farmer needs seed, fertilizer, insecticide, pesticide, plough, labour and irrigation. He also needs facility to market his crops. "Some of these are divisible while others are not, thus creating a serious problem in production." The MCCI President urged the minister to invest aggressively in farm sector. "Agriculture plays the single most important role in Bangladesh, which has a very high density of population. It provides jobs and livelihood for a very large segment of population, particularly women." "We must enhance farm productivity if we are to survive as a modern democratic nation. We suggest a wholesome concept for agricultural production: corporatisation of agriculture," he said. "The sooner we move towards corporatisatised agriculture production, the faster we can be affluent. Millions of extra jobs will be created in rural areas, ushering in an era of prosperity," he added. Ms. Denise Rollins said Bangladesh government and the donors were working for building food security that can help reduce poverty. In his written speech, Dr Atiur Rahman said recurring seasonal cycles of food and non-food crop farming need regular cycles of necessary financing, catered to mainly by two state-owned specialised agricultural banks. "Until recently, the robustly growing private sector commercial banks had little or no engagement in farm financing. The four state-owned commercial banks had only modest but not so spontaneous engagements," he said. "The countrywide campaign undertaken by BB for broader, deeper financial inclusion is changing the situation by sentitising state-owned and private sector commercial banks about their corporate social responsibilities and about the potential for profitable businesses in agricultural and rural financing," Dr Atiur said. FAO representative Mr. Ad Spijkers termed the agriculture as the backbone of a nation and stressed that the private sector can play a significant role in attaining food security. Chief Technical Officer (CTA) of National Food Policy Capacity Strengthening Programme (NFPCSP) Mr. Ciro Fiorillo said the CIP is set for public investment, but will eventually generate opportunities for private sector. International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) representative Dr Akhter Ahmed said government needs to ensure an enabling environment and boost incentives to help private companies, engaged in food production. Former president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) Mr. Abdul Awal Mintoo said the private sector should be given utmost priority in attaining food security and nutrition. President of Bangladesh Agro-Processors Association Mr Anjan Chowdhury said despite many odds, the country's private sector is emerging as a key player in agriculture sector. "Bangladeshi firms are now exporting 90 agro-products to about 76 countries in the world," he said. Former president of the MCCI Anis-Ud-Dowla said farm land was shrinking gradually every year. There must be a government-led safeguard measure to protect arable land, he felt. Executive Director of Policy Research Institute (PRI) Mr. Ahsan H Mansur called upon the government to rationalise the 'agriculture policy' so that arable land could not be used for setting up factories or other purposes. FAO officials Mr. M Badrul Arefin and Dr Z Karim, Director General of Food Planning and Monitoring Unit Mr. Naser Farid and Executive Director of BRAC Dr Mahabub Hossain were also present in the meeting.
Food and Disaster Management Minister Dr Muhammad Abdur Razzaque said Sunday food prices will come down to a "tolerable level" once an anti-hoarding bill is passed in the parliament. "At present, we don't have any effective tool to check hoarding by unscrupulous traders that often leads to price spiral in the market," Razzaque said at the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) office in Dhaka. He said the government has drafted a tough anti-hoarding law and it will be placed in the parliament very soon. "Once the bill is enacted, it will give the government enough power to crack down on hoarders," he added. "If the proposed act comes into effect, we hope it will be possible to curb artificial hike in commodity prices to some extent," he told a meeting on Country Investment Plan (CIP) in Agriculture, Food Security and Nutrition. The minister said the government has also launched National Food Policy Action (2008-2015) and formulated a five-year Country Investment Plan (CIP) worth US$10 billion for the agriculture, food security and nutrition. "We have a target to achieve food sufficiency by 2020 as the present government is committed to ensuring three meals a day for every citizen of the country," he said. The MCCI and Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) jointly organised the discussion. Representatives from development partners, members from the business community, financial institutions, think-tanks, civil society, academicians and other stakeholders of agricultural sector took part in the discussion. The MCCI President, Major General (Retd) Mr. Amjad Khan Chowdhury chaired the discussion. FAO Representative Ad Spijkers made introductory speech. Barrister Nihad Kabir, Vice-President of the MCCI, gave vote of thanks. USAID Mission chief in Bangladesh Ms. Denise Rollins and principal officer plant production and protection division of agriculture and consumer protection department of FAO Mr. Peter Kenmore were present as special guests. General Manager (GM) of Agriculture Credit Department of Bangladesh Bank (BB) SM Moniruzzaman read out a written speech of the BB Governor Dr Atiur Rahman as he could not attend the meeting. The food minister said the prices of the country's staple food rice were high because soaring population has put a lot of pressure on demand and supply scenario. He said of the $10 billion investment planned for the farm sector, the government will finance $3.0 billion from its budgets and the rest $7.0 billion will come from development partners. The minister said the World Bank and other donors have agreed to give more fund to the key sector. He said the government will mainly act as the facilitator in the farm sector. "Agriculture in Bangladesh is mostly a private sector activity. Millions of our farmers are entrepreneurs engaged in production-oriented activities. Thousands of processors, millers, wholesalers and the retailers are all private sector players," he said. "Both input and output markets are governed by private traders. The government is mainly facilitating the processes and acting when market ceases to act efficiently," he said. "We need to harness the range of opportunities and the potential win-win situation in public-private partnership," Dr Razzaque added. "Though the private sector has achieved success in different sectors, there are also unsuccessful stories such as the aviation sector". MCCI president Major General (Retd) Amjad Khan Chowdhury stressed the need for proper implementation of the farm sector projects, saying they are crucial for creating jobs and shoring up food security in the country. He urged the government to firmly act against fragmentation of land, which he says is depleting soil fertility and cutting production. "Land fragmentation is a big threat to our agriculture and development," he said. "More than 10 per cent of the farm households are absolutely landless owning. About 40 per cent of households own between 0.05 to 0.49 acres and may be qualified as marginal farmers," Chowdhury said, quoting government statistics. "Some 50 per cent of households fall in small farm category owning between 0.50 to 02.49 acres. Of the total, about half own between 0.50 to 0.99 acres and this percentage is growing with further fragmentation of land thanks to population growth. "Medium-sized farms of 2.5 to 7.49 acres comprise about 10 per cent of farm households. Just over one per cent of households own 7.5 acres and above," the MCCI president said. "It is difficult to eke out a living from these tiny farms. A part could be higher than the rest impacting on requirement of irrigation or the crop to be cultivated. A family needs at least two acres of land to survive," he added. He also highlighted the importance of dairy sector for achieving food security by way of improving nutritional intake in daily meals and creating wealth in rural areas. Chowdhury said to grow crop a farmer needs seed, fertilizer, insecticide, pesticide, plough, labour and irrigation. He also needs facility to market his crops. "Some of these are divisible while others are not, thus creating a serious problem in production." The MCCI President urged the minister to invest aggressively in farm sector. "Agriculture plays the single most important role in Bangladesh, which has a very high density of population. It provides jobs and livelihood for a very large segment of population, particularly women." "We must enhance farm productivity if we are to survive as a modern democratic nation. We suggest a wholesome concept for agricultural production: corporatisation of agriculture," he said. "The sooner we move towards corporatisatised agriculture production, the faster we can be affluent. Millions of extra jobs will be created in rural areas, ushering in an era of prosperity," he added. Ms. Denise Rollins said Bangladesh government and the donors were working for building food security that can help reduce poverty. In his written speech, Dr Atiur Rahman said recurring seasonal cycles of food and non-food crop farming need regular cycles of necessary financing, catered to mainly by two state-owned specialised agricultural banks. "Until recently, the robustly growing private sector commercial banks had little or no engagement in farm financing. The four state-owned commercial banks had only modest but not so spontaneous engagements," he said. "The countrywide campaign undertaken by BB for broader, deeper financial inclusion is changing the situation by sentitising state-owned and private sector commercial banks about their corporate social responsibilities and about the potential for profitable businesses in agricultural and rural financing," Dr Atiur said. FAO representative Mr. Ad Spijkers termed the agriculture as the backbone of a nation and stressed that the private sector can play a significant role in attaining food security. Chief Technical Officer (CTA) of National Food Policy Capacity Strengthening Programme (NFPCSP) Mr. Ciro Fiorillo said the CIP is set for public investment, but will eventually generate opportunities for private sector. International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) representative Dr Akhter Ahmed said government needs to ensure an enabling environment and boost incentives to help private companies, engaged in food production. Former president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) Mr. Abdul Awal Mintoo said the private sector should be given utmost priority in attaining food security and nutrition. President of Bangladesh Agro-Processors Association Mr Anjan Chowdhury said despite many odds, the country's private sector is emerging as a key player in agriculture sector. "Bangladeshi firms are now exporting 90 agro-products to about 76 countries in the world," he said. Former president of the MCCI Anis-Ud-Dowla said farm land was shrinking gradually every year. There must be a government-led safeguard measure to protect arable land, he felt. Executive Director of Policy Research Institute (PRI) Mr. Ahsan H Mansur called upon the government to rationalise the 'agriculture policy' so that arable land could not be used for setting up factories or other purposes. FAO officials Mr. M Badrul Arefin and Dr Z Karim, Director General of Food Planning and Monitoring Unit Mr. Naser Farid and Executive Director of BRAC Dr Mahabub Hossain were also present in the meeting.