Bangladesh sees no food crisis coming as a fall-out of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, said Agriculture Minister Dr Md Abdur Razzaque on Wednesday. “The stocks of food grains and production which we have now won't have any major problems. There will be no food crisis,” said the minister while talking to the reporters after a meeting with Qu Dongyu, secretary general of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in Dhaka. Regarding hike in commodity prices, Razzaque said people have to suffer a little because of the international market. “We will have a big harvest season in April. I hope there will be no problem.” The minister further said the price of coarse rice in Cox’s Bazar is not rising. The price has been within Tk 40-42 for the last one and a half months. Read: FAO Asia-Pacific regional conference to kick off in Dhaka Tuesday But, the price of fine rice is going up as there is a real shortage, he added. “People's income has increased. And so, the tendency of people to eat fine rice has increased,” the minister said. “But we are providing assistance to the poor.”

Agriculture Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque has said he is confident the current scheme of incentives will be enough to help the agriculture sector get back on its fee, as long as there isn’t another bout of flooding to come this year.

Agriculture Minister Dr Md Abdur Razzaque on Wednesday urged banks to come forward with easy loans to help create entrepreneurs in both agriculture and non-agriculture sectors.

The government will procure some 11.5 lakh metric tonnes of rice (boiled and non-boiled) and eight lakh metric tonnes of paddy during the current Boro season.