The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

The government yesterday ruled out any possibility of food shortage or crisis in the country but acknowledged that Cyclone Sidr has damaged crops worth about Tk 2,000 crore on some 5.53 lakh hectares of land in 30 districts. Of the damaged crops Aman paddy was damaged on 4.18 lakh hectares of land, which will bring down this year's farm output by 8 lakh tones, said Agriculture Adviser CS Karim at a press briefing at the PID conference room.

The Adviser said the country now needs to import a total of 19 lakh tones of rice and the government has already moved for the import of 5 lakh tones while the donors have promised to provide another 5 lakh tones.

"We hope, the rest 9 lakh tones would be imported by the private sector," he said.

Agriculture Secretary Abdul Aziz said the total food production is likely to go down to 3.08 crore tones from the targeted 3.20 crore tones due to the recent floods and devastating cyclone.

At present, he said there are 7.26 lakh tones of food in stock and the country needs a total of 19 lakh tones of food to ensure food security.

Joint Secretary of the Food Ministry Shafiqul Islam said Tk 1,500 crore has been allocated for the import of 5 lakh tones of food. "So, there will be no monetary problem for the import," he added.

He said the special VGF programme, which was scheduled to be launched in the cyclone-affected areas on Saturday, could not be started.

He, however, could not confirm when the special VGF programme will start. "We've started listing names of the cyclone victims and it'll take days to complete it," he said.

Director General of Seeds Wing of the Agriculture Ministry Anwar Faruque said the government has taken up a comprehensive programme for the cyclone-affected areas to distribute seeds of 10 high value crops as part of rehabilitation move.

Under the programme, he said the affected farmers would get seeds of various vegetables and other crops for immediate cultivation.