Food output may rise by 1m MT this year
Food production in the country during the current financial year is projected at 22.33 million tonnes, one million tonnes higher than that in the last financial year, official sources said.
The production in the last financial year was 21.35 million tonnes.
Higher production during the current 19999-2000 financial year is due to good yield of Aus crop and bumper production of Aman, they said.
In view of the increased domestic production and an all time high food stock in silos this year, the government has abandoned a budgetary plan to import five lakh tonnes of food grains in the current fiscal, food ministry officials said.
Food import under the private sector has also fallen drastically. Less than one million tonnes have so far been imported under the private sector in first half of the current financial year, they said.
Production of Aus, the year's first rice crop, rose to 1.73 million tonnes from last fiscal's 1.62 million tonnes.
A bumper yield of over 9.5 million tonnes of Aman, the second crop, also surpassed last year's 7.74 million tonnes.
Two other major crops -- Boro (paddy) and wheat -- are in growing stage now. Boro production is expected to be around 9.2 million tonnes, a good harvest by any standard though much lower than the last season's record yield of 10.5 million tonnes. Wheat production has been estimated to be around last year's 1.9 million tonnes, they said.
Experts say it is a phenomenal growth this year and a great relief for the government, particularly after the devastating floods in 1998 which forced import of 3.46 million tonnes of food grains by the private sector, besides the public sector.
Food Ministry officials said last year's Boro production was very high because of extensive cultivation as farmers tried to recover flood losses. Agriculture Ministry officials told The Daily Star that the total area of Boro cultivation this year will remain around last year's.
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