Bangladesh 'facing rice crisis'

The chief of the Bangladesh army says the country is facing a catastrophe over rice supplies.

Gen Moeen U Ahmed said that he was "very concerned" about the problem which he said must be redressed immediately.
Many people have been hit hard by spiralling food prices, which in some cases have doubled over the last year.
Rice is the staple diet of most Bangladeshis, but this year crops have been damaged by heavy monsoon rain.

High costs
"If we think it is a catastrophe and work together, we can overcome the crisis," Gen Ahmed said.
Rice is having to be imported (Pic: Daily Star)


He blamed the global market for the price increase - India recently raised its price from $425 a tonne to $500 a tonne.
Higher transportation costs have also been blamed for the rise, following a damaging monsoon and the aftermath of November's cyclone.

The government says that it is taking measures to tackle the problem, and three ships carrying 107,000 tonnes of rice arrived at Chittagong - the country's main port - on Thursday.
It says that another ship with 10,000 tonnes of rice will reach the port on Friday and that several more rice-carrying vessels have booked berths for the next two weeks.
The government also says that it has introduced food-for-work programmes, and schemes to feed vulnerable and poor people.

Correspondents say that thousands of poor people can be seen queuing up at numerous stalls set up by the authorities to sell rice at a subsidised rate of 25 taka ($0.36) per kg.
Officials say that the government currently has about 600,000 tonnes of food grains, and that a minimum stock of 1m tonnes is needed to meet emergencies such as November's cyclone which killed over 3,300 people and left millions homeless.


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goto kal TV-te (NTV) dheklam LOMBA line lege ache shokal theke naki shudu Rice kenar jonno

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I saw a articles today on TV that says, we can buy rice from Vietnam or Myanmar where the price comes do to 20% to 30% from the rice we buy from India. So if they can provide some good quality rice then we just can start buying from them. That will lessen down the current price of Rice.

Ahare Rice er price emon bhabe barche ami ekhane boshe chinta korchi kibhabe okhane cholche Allah rokha koro.

apatoto onno kichu diye chalate parbe na??? jemon ektu rationing.. rooti r rice r bread mileye khabe.. r o koto kichu ache.. to ektu help hote pare.. even tho it wont solve all da prob..

onek manush ekhon na kheye cholche api

hmmm dat is very sad.. but amar kach lage je onek manush beshi kahcche r keo kono khawa pacche na.. so sharing kono system nai?

right now only we can share is money from here...nothing else...need some trusted people over bangladesh who can distribute to them by being there.

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UPDATE

Bangladesh makes urgent diplomatic appeal for rice supplies

Agence France-Presse
First Posted 06:09pm (Mla time) 01/06/2008
DHAKA--Bangladesh said Sunday it has asked nearby countries to sell it large quantities of rice to help tame price spikes caused by two major natural disasters that ruined crops in the country in 2007.
Foreign Minister Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury called his Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday to immediately buy half a million tonnes of rice, the foreign ministry said, adding that "Vietnam is responding to the request of a friendly country like Bangladesh, and is willing to sell rice to us."
"Bangladesh would continue her diplomatic initiative with friendly countries to address the issue of food purchase," Chowdhury was quoted saying, noting the country was importing another 100,000 tonnes from Thailand.
The diplomatic offensive was launched as the price of rice, a main staple food in the impoverished nation of 144 million, spiked to 33 taka (48 cents) per kilogram (2.2 pounds) in the past week.
The government said the imported rice will be used to ease demand by selling it in the open market at a subsidised price.
The price spike is linked to devastating floods in the main rice growing region of the north during July and August followed by a massive cyclone that hit the south coast in November.
The combined disasters killed thousands of people and destroyed rice crops worth $600 million, the agriculture ministry said, threatening to cause widespread hunger among 60 million people who live on less than a dollar a day.
The country's powerful army chief General Moeen U. Ahmed on Friday expressed concern at the spiralling cost of rice.
"We are very much concerned about the price hike," Ahmed was quoted as saying by the private UNB news agency. He added that the situation was compounded by hoarding among the public and mill owners.
The country's military-backed government took power on January 12, 2006, a day after a state of emergency was imposed following months of unrest over vote-rigging allegations which led to national polls being cancelled.
The interim government has pledged to root out corruption in politics before holding a fresh ballot by the end of this year.

And Guess what people are visiting and shopping from Trade fare

Hay khoda