The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

The Government has appointed 540 new Open Market Sales (OMS) dealers across the country to control the soaring prices of foodstuff, Food Adviser AMM Shawkat Ali said yesterday.

According to him, the country currently has six lakh tons of food reserves, which will not be hampered by the Government's decision to increase the number of OMS, he said.

Bangladesh is about to harvest a bumper potato crop, which is likely to offset pressure of food shortage.

According to the report, potato production in the country in current season is likely to rise 35 per cent more than seven million tonnes due to favourable weather conditions.

The government will focus on meeting domestic demand and has no immediate plan to boost exports to major markets Malaysia and Singapore, where it ships 10,000 tonnes of potato annually, official said.

The price of rice, wheat, edible oil and pulses almost doubled over the last 12 months, due to repeated floods and Cyclone Sidr late last year, along with soaring global prices, the report said.

To meet the shortfall, Bangladesh has imported 2.9 million tonnes of rice and wheat in the current fiscal year.

Adviser Dr Shawkat said the Government has appointed 540 more dealers for increasing the sale of foodstuffs and ongoing meeting of the Advisory Council is going to decide what kind of foodstuffs would be sold under the OMS programme.

The Food Adviser also said, two dealers in each upazila are selling food materials now and the Government would appoint one or two more dealers in each to expand the distribution chain. He also said that the Government would allocate more food for dealers to mitigate public sufferings.

Responding to a question Dr Shawkat informed that the Government is considering to sell potatoes along with rice under OMS.

"As there is lack of storage facility following a bumper production of the crop in several areas of the country so the Government is thinking about using potatoes along with rice under VGF card," he added.