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Bangladesh can go for Chinese perennial rice farming to reduce cost and labour
Bangladesh can go for the Chinese perennial rice farming to reduce both cost and labour through introducing a sustainable crop production system.
“If Bangladesh wants to further enhance bilateral cooperation in this field of food production, we’re ready to extend our cooperation,” Kong Yang, deputy mayor of the Menghai county of China’s Yunnan province recently told a group of visiting Bangladeshi journalists.
A research institute of China’s Yunnan University invented the perennial rice farming technology a few years back and it was approved by Yunnan Crop Veracity Approval Committee in 2018 — selected as an International Agriculture Innovation Technology by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.
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According to the Rice Research Centre for Perennial Rice Engineering and Technology, School of Agriculture of Yunnan University, the perennial rice technology consists of varieties developed by utilizing the rhizome trait of the wild rice species, Oryza longistaminata, and the related crop management techniques.
This technology enables the farmers to plant rice only once but continuously harvest for 3 to 5 years, during which there is no need for several common agricultural practices, such as purchasing seeds, seedling nursery, ploughing fields and transplanting.
“Therefore, this technology represents an efficient and sustainable rice production strategy, which is characterized by its environment-friendliness and cost effectiveness. Research on this technology is of theoretical innovation and thus is a cutting-edge field,” the research centre said in its brochure.
Explaining the comparison between the seasonal and perennial rice production methodology, the Chinese officials said the production process of seasonal rice is complicated including steps like ploughing, hoeing, seeding, transplanting, harvesting, and requires laborious field management.
On the other hand, the perennial rice production process is straightforward. In the next season, as only crop management is needed before harvesting, labour input is greatly reduced, thus lowering the production cost.
“Seasonal rice production requires re-ploughing the fields every season, which needs a large amount of water and may cause serious soil erosion. Purchasing new seeds and seedling nursery are also necessary every season; both the production cost and labour input are high.
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But, perennial rice production can largely conserve water; therefore, it is especially ideal for fields where planting rice is only suitable after the wet season. It may save about 30 percent of water consumption compared to traditional rice production.
“In perennial rice production, the fields are constantly covered with rice plants, which can enlarge the carbon sink and reduce soil erosion. Thus it is a sustainable rice production strategy,” said an official of the Digital Agriculture Museum of Menghai Manxiang Yuntian Agriculture Development Company Ltd.
Deer poaching in Sundarbans rising at alarming rate amid lax monitoring
Dear poaching from the Sundarbans has increased at an alarming rate allegedly due to the authorities’ inaction and involvement of some unscrupulous forest officials, posting threat to the ecosystem of the world largest mangrove forest.
Locals said poachers have become desperate as the demand for venison has increased due to its low price in the surrounding areas adjacent to the Sundarbans. The activities of these poachers increase during various festivals.
Deer, the main attraction of the Sundarbans, is losing its existence while the eco-system of the forest is being destroyed due as indiscriminate poaching of the wild animal.
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The poachers manage dishonest forest officials to get pass for entering the Sundarbans in the guise of fishermen and hunt deer, locals alleged.
Koyra upazila administration sources said deer hunting is rampant in Koyra upazila. In the past three months, police seized 532 kgs of venison from different parts of the upazila, one slaughtered deer, and skins of five deer and head of a deer.
Ten cases have been filed so far and police arrested six members of a deer poaching syndicate, they said. With this, a total of 50 poachers were arrested in the six months of the year.
Venison, deer skin seized in Bagerhat
London-based IGC to partner with BRAC in setting up a data hub in Bangladesh, says its chief
Bangladesh should adopt quality curriculum prioritizing future needs and the digital economy in all cycles of educational institutions from preschool to primary, secondary, and higher education to create employment opportunities.
This was stated by Jonathan Leape, associate professor in Economics at The London School of Economics and also Executive Director of the International Growth Centre (IGC).
The IGC is partnering with the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development to establish a Bangladesh Data Hub, which aims to stimulate more high quality research in the country, he said.
He is now is in Dhaka to attend a conference titled ‘Resilient and resurgent Bangladesh-sustainable economic growth in a changing climate’. It has been organised by the IGC.
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Leape is leading a group of young researchers from London.
In an interview with UNB on Thursday he talked about future economic growth and skilled and productive human resources development to face the challenges ahead.
The IGC has focused on how to make data more accessible and user-friendly for decision-makers in government. The central role of data in guiding policy during the pandemic has increased the demand for data by policy makers worldwide, including Bangladesh, Leape said.
In reply to a query about the skill gap, he said Bangladesh needs a strong curriculum reform in line with the developed countries to turn the huge number of unskilled people into resources.
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He said academic research can be a learning accelerator for policymakers and research can provide robust evidence on what works and what doesn’t, helping make policies more effective and less costly.
It can also provide a new conceptual framework, reframing questions in a way that opens up new policy options, the economist said.
He said the conference in Dhaka, brings together policymakers, researchers, and citizens for a series of discussions of economic policy issues that are central to achieving the government vision of smart Bangladesh.
Regarding the conference he said 12 researchers are presenting their latest studies, and senior government officials shared their insights, all with the aim of inspiring evidence-based solutions to some of the policy problems Bangladesh faces.
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The IGC engagement in Bangladesh has led to strong partnerships. The foreign, commonwealth, and development office has supported and funded the research and policy engagement in Bangladesh, said Leape.
BRAC, and BRAC Institute of government and development, are key partners of IGC and the London School of Economics more broadly, he said.
“We have also valued partnerships with the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority, RAPID, Policy Exchange, and PRI amongst others,” he added.
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Dengue spike: Situation may worsen in August, September, experts say
The dengue situation might worsen in the months of August and September, according to health experts.
Despite the government's visible preventive measures, the numbers of cases and fatalities from dengue fever are rising day by day as a record number of dengue cases and deaths were reported in the country in the first six months of this year.
According to experts, the pattern of Aedes mosquitoes has changed as it has now become much “smarter” than before.
Prof. Dr. Kabirul Bashar, Entomologist of Jahangirnagar University, said, “The dengue situation may worsen in the running month. During our research in the laboratory, we make a model after analyzing some factors, including the density of Aedes mosquito population, number of dengue patients, temperature, humidity and rainfall. It is clear that the dengue situation may worsen in the coming days. It could take a serious turn in the months of August and September.”
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“At this moment it is important to manage dengue hotspots and use fogging to combat Aedes mosquitoes in those areas where dengue has already spread. In that case, the authorities can detect the infected people through their address and kill the mosquitoes through fogging machines, because as long as these mosquitoes remain alive, dengue will spread in all the areas,” he said.
He also urged city dwellers to combat dengue and ensure that Aedes mosquitoes do not accumulate in their homes and yards.
55 wards in Dhaka at high risk
According to a survey conducted in 98 wards — under Dhaka North and South city corporations — by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), from June 18 to 27, 55 wards are at high risk of dengue.
During the survey in 40 wards of Dhaka North City Corporation and 58 wards in South City Corporation, Aedes larvae were found in 43.53% multipurpose buildings, 21.31% houses and 18.21% under construction buildings.
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The wards which are at high risk of dengue under Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) are: No 2, 3, 5, 6, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 35, 37 and 38. The areas include Mirpur, Pallabi, Mazar Road, Pirer Bagh, Monipur, Shewrapara, Kafrul, Ibrahimpur, Khilkhet, Kuril, Joar Shahara, Banani, Gulshan, Baridhara, Mohakhali, Rampura, Khilgaon, Malibagh, Karwanbazar, Tejturi Bazar, Agargaon, Mohammadpur, Baitul Aman, Moghbazar, Iskaton and Badda.
The wards which are at high risk of dengue under Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC)are: No 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 18, 19, 22, 23, 26, 33, 34, 36, 41, 44, 46, 48, 50, 51, 54, 55 and 57. The areas include Goran, Meradia, Basabo, Sabujbagh, Mugda, Madartek, Fakirapool, Arambagh, Shahjahanpur, Rajarbagh, Old Paltan, Baitul Mukarram, dhanmondi, Rayerbazar, Nilkhet, Science Laboratory, Elephant Road, Minto Road, Kakrail, Hazaribagh, Lalbagh, Azimpur, Palashi, Bongshal, Siddiquebazar, Shakharibazar, Wari, Sutrapur, Mill Barrack, Sayedabad, North Jatrabari, Mirhazaribagh, Dholaipar, Gendaria, Jurain and Kamrangirchar.
Reasons behind deaths from dengue
Public health expert Dr Lelin Chowdhury said the country has recorded the highest death toll from dengue in the first six months this year. There are some reasons behind it. First, most of those who were infected with dengue this year, have had dengue once or twice before. When they again became infected with the disease, the severity increased.
Most of them failed to identify whether they were infected with dengue or not and some people were in a dilemma. When they delay in seeking medical attention, they develop a condition of complications or shock syndrome, he said, adding, “This is another reason for deaths behind dengue.”
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Besides, the behaviour pattern of Aedes mosquitoes has changed as they bite people throughout the day and night, and can remain active in artificial light outside, which is playing a vital role in dengue infection.
“We are afraid that if no immediate program is taken against the Aedes mosquito to control dengue, a terrible disaster might be upon us in the coming days,” he said.
Replying to a question on why the authorities concerned have not yet managed to control dengue, Dr Lelin said, “The authorities concerned of the city corporations have not taken effective measures as we see. Secondly, it is not possible for the city corporations alone to combat dengue. For this, the public representatives and people should be involved as well.”
Prof. Dr Nazmul Islam, director of disease control and line of DGHS, said during a survey conducted on 3149 houses in 40 wards of DNCC and 58 wards of DSCC, Aedes larvae were found in 549 houses, which is an alarming sign.
He also blamed people’s unawareness behind the spread of dengue.
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Prof Abul Bashar Mohammad Khurshid Alam, Director General of the DGHS, said, “This year, as monsoon has started late, there is a possibility that the dengue season may prolong. We have taken steps to minimize the manpower crisis and dengue treatment is going on in all hospitals in the capital.”
Additional director of DGHS, Dr. Rasheda Sultana, told UNB that dengue corners have been opened in all hospitals and an information desk is available in the hospitals. Sufficient beds are available for providing treatment to dengue patients.
There are 800 beds in DNCC’s dedicated dengue hospital while there are 600 beds in Mugda General Hospital, 120 in Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, 195 in Salimullah Medical College and Hospital, 44 in Shishu Hospital, 120 in Suhrawardy Hospital, 250 in Kurmitola General Hospital, and 72 in Kuwait Maitree Hospital.
According to DGHS report till July 18, thirteen deaths were reported from dengue in 24 hours till Tuesday morning, the highest number of deaths in a day from the mosquito-borne disease this year, raising the fatalities in Bangladesh to 127 in 2023.
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During the period, 1,533 more patients were hospitalised with the viral fever, it said.
Of the new patients, 779 were admitted to hospitals in Dhaka and the rest outside it, according to DGHS.
A total of 5,569 dengue patients, including 3,443 in the capital, are now receiving treatment at hospitals across the country.
So far, the DGHS has recorded 24,000 dengue cases and 18,304 recoveries this year.
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Experts say end to loan default culture requires political commitment at national level
Noting the additional stress exerted on the domestic economy by the alarming rise in the volume of defaulted loans, economists insist things have gotten to a stage where any substantive change for the better requires a political commitment at the national level.
They point out that all the defaulters are politically influential, and so the options available to Bangladesh Bank are not enough to pursue with them without a national-level commitment.
According to official data, the volume of defaulted loans stood at Tk1.32 lakh crore in the quarterly financial statement of the central bank. But this may be just one-third of the actual amount. According to information from different sources, the volume of default loans stood at Tk4.11 lakh crore till March 2023, which is more than half the size of the national budget for the current fiscal.
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Tk55,000 crore is written off as bad debt (no longer counted as an asset by the bank ) and the largest amount, Tk 2.24 lakh crore, is held up due to cases filed in different courts.
In addition, several lakh crore was rescheduled several times by influential businesses during the last one and a half decades, which protects them from being officially declared as loan defaulters, according to Professor Mustafizur Rahman, distinguished fellow at leading think-tank Centre for Policy Dialogue.
"These loans bring three-dimensional bad effects on the domestic economy: it creates a liquidity crisis, with banks’ money being stuck in an unproductive sector and it leads to banks charging higher interest rates for loans," Prof Mustafiz said.
Many potential investors are not getting loans from banks, due to the over-sensitivity of some bankers to the default culture, he adds.
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Bank officials are facing different types of official challenges in loan management, which slow down regular lending activities of a bank. The weakness of laws related to loan defaults and implementation of the laws that do exist have failed and led to the present situation, Prof Mustafiz said.
"To recover such a large volume of loans is a challenge for regulators (Bangladesh Bank) alone. It requires a political commitment at the national level," he opined.
Dr Mainul Islam, another leading economist and winner of the Ekushey Padak, said the information published by Bangladesh Bank about default loans every three months is not correct. "The actual defaulted loans exceeded Tk 4 lakh crore," he says.
"About half the amount has been pending for years due to court cases. That is, as long as the cases continue, the debtors will not be considered defaulters. But these are worth marking as defaulters. Even if banks don't consider the loans can be recovered, they cannot be marked as defaulters due to court directives," he said.
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The Tk 55,000 crore written off is also not shown as default. The central bank shows the amount of defaulted loans till March 2023 is over Tk1.32 lakh crore. If you add all these, the actual volume of defaults is Tk 4.11 lakh crore, he pointed out.
Dr. Mainul said the economy is being looted through political sponsorship in the banking sector. The loot in the form of debt is never recovered. The bank merely marks them as default or non-performing loans.
“Through all this, defaulted loans are increasing. In my 2010 study titled 'Non-performing loans in the private sector in Bangladesh', I showed that 77 percent of non-performing loans were due to political patronage,” he said.
Read: Bank default loans surge to Tk1.31 lakh crore: BB
Dr Mainul describes the experience of researching the defaulted loans of the financial sector for the last 30 years, and said, after reviewing the data on defaulted loans, it was found that successive governments' approach has been to indulge the defaulters and provide various benefits.
As a result, the borrowers are renewing their loans by getting benefits. After repeated opportunities, defaulters' tendency to repay their loans has decreased.
Since 2019, the trend of providing loan rescheduling facilities to defaulters has increased, he said.
The latest additions to these legal benefits are contained in the recent amendment of the Bank Companies Act.
Learning Bangla in China's Yunnan: Enhanced commercial ties drive growing interest
Five Chinese universities in Yunnan province have been teaching Bangla language and cultures to students that play a big role in promoting trade and business ties between China and Bangladesh.
According to teachers at the Chinese universities, interest in learning Bangla language is growing day-by-day among students, and Chinese people in general.
“Our students are really enjoying the Bangla language learning. We want more cooperation between Bangladesh and China in this academic field” said Prof Hu Jinming, vice president of Yunnan University, while meeting a group of Bangladeshi journalists who recently visited the university.
Prof Hu, who has visited Bangladesh a number of times to enhance cooperation between the University of Dhaka and Yunnan University, informed that he is now working to establish cooperation with other public and private universities in Bangladesh.
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He believes learning Bangla by Chinese students will enhance communications between the two nations and understand each other’s' culture.
Besides Yunnan University, the remaining other four universities in the province are Communication University, Peking University, Minzu University and Kunming University.
In addition, the teachers said, there are three universities in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province, that also teach Bangla language and culture.
Subarna Aktar, a Bangladeshi citizen who teaches Bangla in the School of Foreign Languages of Yunnan University, said many Chinese students are getting interested to learn Bangla because of the expanding trade relations between the two countries.
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Echoing Subarna, Mishkat Sharif, another Bangladeshi teacher at the Bangla Department in Minzu University, said those who learn the language have better job opportunities with different companies who have been doing businesses in Bangladesh.
"Some Chinese students after passing out of university are even setting up their own businesses and doing business with Bangladesh. It gives them an extra advantage to understand their customers' needs," Sharif added.
China has emerged as Bangladesh's biggest trade partner in recent years, with bilateral trade topping $27 billion in 2022, according to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade. Of that total, China's exports exceeded $26 billion, while Bangladesh's exports to China amount to less than $1 billion.
According to the teachers, Bangla Departments at the Chinese universities allow an intake of 20-25 students every other year to learn Bangla language and culture.
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On the other hand, many Bangladeshi students are increasingly attending Chinese universities, especially in Yunnan, to study different subjects.
Currently, there are 121 Bangladeshi students studying at Yunnan University, Ahmed Moin Uddin, a graduate of the School of International Chinese Language Education, told UNB. In the last 10 years, more than 1000 Bangladesh students graduated from Yunnan University, he added.
Govt plans reform initiatives aimed at bolstering macroeconomic stability
The government has undertaken a series of medium-term (2025-26) reforms aimed at bolstering macroeconomic stability and promoting long-term growth apart from immediate policy responses due to the global and national economic contexts.
The main objectives of these reforms include enhancing revenue generation, reducing the borrowing costs of the public sector, curbing subsidies, and improving spending efficiency through fiscal institutional reforms, according to an official budgetary document.
These reform initiatives have been developed through consultations and negotiations with the stakeholders.
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The overarching strategy is to strengthen the external balance and rebuild reserves while gradually easing the measures implemented for demand and import management on a temporary basis.
Moreover, the document mentioned, fiscal sustainability will be reinforced by maintaining the budget deficit and public debt within acceptable limits.
“This will be achieved through the introduction of more efficient expenditure management practices and increased investment in priority sectors such as social welfare and development spending,” it said.
The document said that Bangladesh will continue to pursue a prudent fiscal policy stance keeping a careful eye on the budget deficit (both primary and overall), financing mix, and public and publicly guaranteed debt level.
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In the medium term, the policy will be anchored by the target to keep the primary fiscal deficit (including grants) within around 3.3 percent of GDP to contain public debt below 45 percent of GDP.
In addition to raising expenditures on development and social safety net programs, there will be initiatives to rationalise subsidies and domestic debt financing costs.
The reform initiatives in the governance of social safety net programs, such as improvement in targeting, rationalisation of coverage, use of the government-to- person (G2P) systems, the introduction of a universal pension system, etc., will continue in the medium term.
The Universal Pension Management Bill, 2023 has already passed in parliament aimed at bringing the country’s growing elderly population under a universal pension scheme
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Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in his budget speech said that the government has planned to launch a universal pension system from FY2023-24. Under the proposed scheme, a beneficiary can enjoy pension benefits subject to the payment of subscription up to the age of 60 years if s/he enrolls at the age between 18 to 50 years, whereas those who enroll at their age of more than 50 years have to pay subscription for a minimum of 10 years.
The expatriate Bangladeshis will be able to participate in this scheme. If the pensioner dies before attaining the age of 75 years while on pension, the nominee of the pensioner will be entitled to the pension for the remaining period of the pensioner's completion of 75 years.
If the subscriber dies before paying the subscription for at least 10 years, the deposited money will be returned to the nominee along with the profit. Besides, the amount received as a monthly pension will be exempted from income tax.
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Bangladesh’s tax-GDP ratio is one of the lowest in the world.
“This is working as a strong constraint in expanding the budget allocation in critical sectors and exploiting the growth potential to the fullest,” the document said.
Hence, the government has initiated several policy and administrative reforms on the revenue side focusing on the modernisation of the system of income tax and VAT following the best practices.
Key areas for policy reforms include modernizing tax laws, rationalizing tax expenditures, simplifying the tax rate structure, and broadening the tax base as part of an overarching strategy of shifting the tax burden from trade-related taxes toward income and value-added taxes.
On the administrative side, key reforms include establishing compliance risk management units within the National Board of Revenue and implementing a compliance improvement plan, strengthening information sharing between the income tax, VAT, and customs wings of NBR, progressively expanding and integrating automation in tax administration, increasing at-source tax collection, etc.
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The reforms are expected to generate additional revenue by 0.5 percent of GDP annually in FY 2023-24 and FY 2024-25 and 0.7 percent of GDP in FY 2025-26.
The document said that the government has taken steps to rationalise energy subsidies and allocate required funds for social and development expenditures.
The increase in petroleum prices in August 2022 was intended to match international prices, and to reduce the amount of subsidy.
To ensure a systematic approach, the government is going to introduce a periodic formula-based automatic fuel price adjustment mechanism, which is expected to eliminate the need for subsidies on petroleum products.
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Moreover, the government is focusing on untapped areas in the tax-revenue sector to enhance overall revenue while also emphasising non-tax revenue sources.
Several reform measures have been implemented including the reduction of interest rates of saving certificates, the introduction of tiered interest rates, capping issuances, and increasing taxes on earned interest, all aimed at reducing the government's interest expenditure.
In FY 2021-22, the contribution from national savings certificates accounted for 0.5 percent of GDP, a decrease from 1.2 percent in FY 2020-21.
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Efficient cash management is also a priority to save public funds by minimising interest expenditure.
To achieve this, the government is strengthening and expanding the Treasury Single Account (TSA), which is expected to facilitate better cash management, reduce interest expenses, and improve commitment controls, the document said.
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Chinese coffee producers eye Bangladesh as new export destination
Chinese coffee producers are considering Bangladesh as new destination to export their products and coffee beans.
“We have been producing the best coffee in China and want to export it to Bangladesh,” said Deng Jialu, Manager of Beigui Coffee Company, when a group of Bangladeshi journalist recently visited his coffee garden and production unit in Simao District, Pu'er City of Yunnan Province in China.
The Beigui Coffee Company is the producer of one of the most popular brands in China. It has a number of coffee gardens in 400 hectares of land, accounting for 2.8% of the coffee planting area in Simao District, and an annual output of more than 7200 tons of fresh coffee fruits, accounting for 6.5% of the annual output of fresh coffee fruits in Simao District.
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Deng informed that many international coffee brands like Nestle, and Starbucks has been importing coffee beans from his company to supply it across the world.
“We’re looking for new destinations in South and South East Asia. Bangladesh could be our next destination as consumption of coffee is rising fast”, he said.
According to Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC), an online data visualization platform on global trade, in 2021, Bangladesh imported $1.53M in Coffee, becoming the 136th largest importer of Coffee in the world. In the same year, Coffee was the 792nd most imported product in Bangladesh. Bangladesh imports Coffee primarily from: Singapore ($650k), United Arab Emirates ($557k), United States ($88.7k), Netherlands ($46.9k), and Australia ($43.5k).
According to international research firm Statista, as of June of the coffee crop year 2021/22, China produced around two million 60-kilogram bags of coffee, up from 1.8 million in the previous year. The majority of the coffee produced in China comes from Yunnan province.
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Xinhua news agency reported in October 2022, the import volume of coffee beans in China reached 122,700 tonnes in 2021, up 74 percent year on year. Since the beginning of that year, the export volume of coffee beans in southwest China's Yunnan Province had reached 18,000 tonnes, with a value of 550 million yuan, up 2.3 times and 3.8 times respectively.
Chilli price hike heats up Barishal markets
Price of green chilli has soared to Tk 600 per kg in Barishal, and consumers blame lack of monitoring from the local administration for this.
Traders, however, said shortage of supply during the Eid-ul-Azha holidays and continued rainfall are behind the price hike.
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Recently, the government allowed the import of green chilli in the wake of surging prices at local markets ahead of Eid-ul-Azha. Despite import permission, the price of chilli is going up.
During a recent visit to some local markets in Barishal city, this UNB correspondent found that consumers were purchasing green chilli at a high price due to a supply shortage.
Per kg green chilli was being sold at Tk 500 on Wednesday before Eid-ul-Azha, but on Friday the peppers were being sold at Tk 600 per kg.
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Traders claimed that they are making less profits from selling green chilli as continued rainfall damaged the crops.
Motahar Uddin, a resident of Kaunia in the city, said, “My salary is Tk 9,000 and the price of green chilli is Tk 600 per kg. After hearing the price, I have decided to buy red chilli. Prices of other vegetables are also beyond the capacity of low-income people.”
Had the local administration monitored the market regularly, the skyrocketing prices of green chilli may have remained within limits, he said.
Arafat, a college student, said, “I live in a mess and after visiting the kitchen market I found that per kg tomato is being sold at Tk 250 while green chilli at Tk 600. The vendors have many excuses to increase the price of essential items.”
Vegetable trader Rahmat at Jailkhana Road said the supply of green chilli is inadequate in local markets and people were not buying chilli after hearing the prices.
Deputy Director of the Department of National Consumers Rights and Protection, Apurba Chowdhury, said many green chilli crop lands have been damaged due to rain and during the Eid holidays, the supply of vegetables is low. The authorities concerned are monitoring the market regularly, he said.
Dhallywood eyes a festive Eid as movies make a comeback
On festive occasions such as two Eid festivals in the country, movies were the only premium medium of mass entertainment in Bangladesh. Sadly the situation suffered a drastic change ever since Dhallyood suffered a wrong paradigm shift, courtesy of the periods of obscenity and lacking good films.
And especially when it comes to Eid, television dramas conquered more news spaces and grabbed the discussions on the entertainment sphere and media pages, than Bengali movies - at least that has been the scenario for a long time.
Thanks to the recent resurrection of Bengali movies with better stories, soothing and entertaining songs and increasing fandom among urban crowds - movies are being highly discussed on Eid once again, even with lasting aftermaths till two-three months after Eid festivities.
It can be said that the Dhallywood industry is returning to a new horizon in terms of business; and after suffering the wrath of COVID-19 pandemic for two years - the industry bounced back with films like 'Poran' and 'Din - the Day' on last year's Eid-ul-Azha, followed by the massively successful 'Hawa'.
Until a few years ago, actor Shakib Khan was considered the only strong pillar in the entire industry, carrying it on his back. Although he still is, a handful of young and talented actors and vibrant filmmakers have changed the face of Dhallywood including Mezbaur Rahman Sumon, Raihan Rafi, Topu Khan and others, as a recurring topic in Dhallywood that the director is the 'Captain of the Ship'.
Read: 10 Most Hyped Bangladeshi Movies Releasing on Eid-ul-Azha 2023
Shortage of talented young filmmakers has been in the industry for a long time. Along with this, audience demand for quality Bangla cinema also increased during the Eid festivals, and audiences began to support the industry once again.
What was needed next was regularity. Audience demand for quality films on this year's Eid-ul-Fitr and the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha as the results of that continuation.
At this year's Eid-ul-Azha, which is happening on Thursday—a total of five movies are going to have their theatrical release on the day - 'Priyotoma', 'Surongo', 'Prohelika', 'Lal Shari' and 'Casino'.
Shakib Khan's movies are always ahead in terms of hall bookings, and this year's Eid is no exception. His captivating looks for the film 'Priyotoma' already stunned the anticipating audiences, and director Himel Ashraf told UNB that this movie is releasing in 107 halls.
Produced by Arshad Adnan, the film is a romantic action story written by late Faruk Hossain. Indian actress Edhika Pal is the lead actress in opposition of Shakib, and the film also has an ensemble cast including Kazi Hayat, Shahiduzzaman Selim, Elina Shammi, Don, Shahid Nabi and others.
Afran Nisho, widely considered as one of the biggest and finest stars in the television and OTT industry in the country, is all set to make his silver screen-debut this Eid. Directed by Raihan Rafi, his debut film 'Surongo' is going to be released on Eid and already got about 30 halls across the country which will be increased later, according to Rafi.
Actress Toma Mirza starred in 'Surongo' opposite Afran Nisho, and this movie will be released in Kolkata after Eid, the makers confirmed at a recent press conference.
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Another surprise of this year's Eid movies is Mahfuz Ahmed starrer film 'Prohelika'. Mahfuz, one of the 'Golden Era' superstars of Bengali television industry who has been off the screen for a long time, is returning with the movie alongside Shabnom Bubly, and the duo has teamed up with acclaimed director Chayanika Chowdhury for this movie.
The film is produced by Jamal Hossain with the story, dialogues and screenplay by Pantha Shahriar.
Actress Apu Biswas is debuting as a producer this Eid as her government grant movie 'Lal Shari' is set to be released tomorrow.
Apart from the production, Apu Biswas is also acting as the female lead and the film is directed by Bandhan Biswas. Actor Symon Sadiq has teamed up with Apu for the first time in this film.
After the Eid-ul-Fitr, director Saikat Nasir is back with another release on this Eid as well. Popular actors Nirab Hossain and Shabnom Bubly have teamed up in this movie titled 'Casino' alongside Taskin Rahman, Doyel Mash and others.
"There has been a time when we suffered due to the shortage of quality films," said Mesbah Uddin Ahmed, Senior Manager, Media and Marketing at Star Cineplex. "Thankfully, the filmmakers are now bringing up such good stories that we have been getting great responses from our film enthusiastic audiences on festive occasions like Eid."
Read more: 6 Bangladeshi Movies Releasing on Eid-ul-Fitr 2023
"Alongside the foreign films, our Bangladeshi movies are garnering massive audiences with captivating stories and presentations such as 'Poran' on last year's Eid+ul-Azha and also films like 'Hawa'. We are hoping to welcome the moviegoers for this year's Eid-ul-Azha with four films and expecting the continued support that our moviegoers are providing to the industry," Mesbah told UNB.
Irrespective of the profit and loss calculation of all these aforementioned films, the stakeholders believe that every movie will enthrall audiences on this Eid.