Nobody will go hungry in the country
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said not a single person in the country would remain hungry as her government gave top priority to increase food production to ensure food security for all.
"Our country is very small in terms of its land area while our current population is 165 million or around 17 crores. The most important thing is to ensure food security for such a huge population," she said while launching an international seminar marking the World Food Day 2020.
Keeping that in mind, the government has been implementing various measures to keep continuing the rise in food production to ensure food security for the huge population, she added.
The PM said her government would continue giving foods free of cost to the distressed.
"We have been working to ensure food security for all. We have been reaching foods to the people and giving foods free of cost to the distressed people so that not a single person in the country remains hungry."
She urged the global leaders to build a world free from hunger. "Let us make efforts in unison to build a world free from hunger."
Hasina said her government has been working to build a developed and prosperous country free from hunger and poverty envisioned by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
The premier got connected to the seminar, organised by agriculture ministry, from the Gono Bhaban while others joined it from the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel, Dhaka through a video conference.
The World Food Day is being observed in Bangladesh as elsewhere in the world with the theme "Grow, nourish, sustain together. Our actions are our future."
Briefly spelling out of the measures taken by her government to face the onslaught of the Covid-19 pandemic on the people's livelihoods and the country's economy, Hasina said, "We have been working with a special focus to make sure that the people don't suffer amid the coronavirus outbreak."
She said the government has allocated Tk 9,500 crore in agriculture mainly to inspire farmers to keep continuing their efforts in producing foods so that no scarcity of food is surfaced in the country due to the pandemic.
The premier said her government has given stimulus packages of Tk 5,000 for agriculture for the coronavirus period to keep the food production uninterrupted.
She once again called upon all to bring every inch of land under cultivation to ensure food security as many countries in the world might face food shortage.
"There is a possibility of famine as the world got stuck due to the Covid-19 pandemic. But Bangladesh must not be affected by it and its people would not suffer from it."
To keep the wheels of the country's economy turning, the government has given stimulus packages in every sector worth Tk 112,633 crore which is four percent of the GDP, she added.
"We have been working tirelessly to give the people a good living even during the pandemic," the PM continued.
The premier greeted the UN's World Food Programme on winning Nobel peace prize and the FAO on its 75th founding anniversary.
Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder, and Fisheries and Livestock Minister SM Rezaul Karim, spoke at the event, chaired by Agriculture Minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque.
A recorded speech of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Director General Qu Dongyu was played at the function.
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