Bangladesh has imported 23.48 lakh tonnes of rice in the past two years and the food ministry has recently granted 95 firms permission to import 4.09 lakh tonnes.

The imports are said to have been permitted to contain the increasing prices of the staple, though the government has repeatedly claimed that the country has become self-sufficient in rice production.

Against an unusual rise in the prices of rice in the recent harvesting season, the government has also slashed the rice import duty to 25 per cent from 62.5 per cent effective since June 22.

After cutting the import duty, the food ministry on June 30 allowed 95 businesses to import 4.09 lakh tonnes of rice to keep the local rice market stable.

The quantity of rice imported during the just-concluded FY22 was 9.89 lakh tonnes while the quantity was 13.59 lakh tonnes in FY21, the food ministry data show.

According to Bangladesh Bank data, the country has imported rice worth $2.75 billion in the past six years since FY17.

Department of Agricultural Extension data show that the country’s rice production in FY21 was 3.87 crore tonnes while Department of Agricultural Marketing Data show that the FY21 rice output was 3.46 crore tonnes.

As per the DAM estimate, the country’s annual rice consumption requirement is 3.5 crore tonnes.

Thus, according to the government data, though there was no shortage of rice in the country in FY21, food ministry data show that the import of the staple food was 13.59 lakh tonnes in FY21.

The food ministry recorded that Bangladesh’s wheat import in FY21 was 53.42 lakh tonnes.

According to the Bangladesh Wheat and Maize Research Institute in Dinajpur, the average annual wheat production in the country is about 1.25 million tonnes against the demand for some 7.5 million tonnes.

The government also claims that Bangladesh ranks third in fish production in the world and is self-sufficient in fish.

But, Department of Fisheries officials and leaders of Bangladesh Fish Exporters and Importers Association said, the country imports carps, sea fish and hilsa from countries such as Myanmar, Oman, India and Thailand.

‘The government has

been claiming that Bangladesh has become self-sufficient in food production but huge quantities of food items, including rice, are imported every year. And the situation indicates that there are problems with statistics,’ Agro-economist M Asaduzzaman told New Age on July 2.

He said that before importing rice the government should ensure proper supply of the domestic output across the local market.

Food minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder said that they permitted the private sector to import four lakh tonnes of rice initially and, if necessary, the quantity would be increased.

‘I do not know if the price of rice will come down on the local market with the import of the item. Any decrease in the price will depend on the rice price in the countries from which traders will import it,’ he said.

Regarding the self-sufficiency in food production, the minister said that Bangladesh imported some rice every year but the country also exported some aromatic rice.

‘The “statistics department” knows whether there is any inconsistency between the rice production and the rice consumption,’ the minister said.

Though the food minister has claimed that Bangladesh imports some rice and also exports some aromatic rice every year, the government data show that Bangladesh exported rice worth $13.80 million in FY21 against the import worth $373 million.

Economist Asaduzzaman said that a miscalculation of the demand and the output might have led to the unusual rice price hike during the harvesting season.

He, too, noted that the statistics of the two government agencies — the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and the agriculture ministry — about the rice production and demand were not the same.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina in a statement on World Food Day 2021 said that Bangladesh became self-sufficient in food production.

The food minister has also claimed several times that Bangladesh became self-sufficient in food production.

According to Bangladesh Bank Data, the country imported rice worth $2.75 billion in the past six years since FY17.

The BB data show that the value of rice import in FY17, FY18, FY19, FY20 and FY21 was $76 million, $1.75 billion, $124 million, $15 million and $373 million respectively.

The BB data also show that the money spent on rice import in the first 10 months of FY22 stood at $418 million.

Asaduzzaman, also a former research director of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, said that before importing, the government would have to announce that the production was lower than the demand.

‘If the government claims that the output is sufficient, it will have to take measures to ensure proper supply of the output across the local market,’ he said.

‘You have made the country “digital” but why are you not monitoring the stock situation of food grains digitally?’ he questioned.

To stop manipulation in food market, Asaduzzaman further said, monitoring should also be digitised.

‘Without ensuring transparency, only import cannot be the tool to stabilise the prices of rice on the local market as the businesses that are manipulating the market and those importing rice are the same,’ the economists said.

Food ministry additional secretary Md Mozibor Rahman said that the ministry would approve the applications for importing rice as much as needed to stabilise the prices on the local market.

The production of rice in the country, he said, has gone up but the produce should timely come to the market so that the prices remain stable.

‘You all know the problem and the government is working to increase the supply of rice on the market,’ Mozibor said.

Regarding the statistics on the production and the consumption, he said that department concerned estimated the demand for rice based on only human consumption.

‘I think non-human consumption was not taken into account in arriving at the estimates, but a large quantity of rice is used in cattle and fish farming,’ Mozibor added.