UNB

State Minister for Food Md Abdul Bari on Sunday said the government currently has 19.20 lakh tons of food grains in its public godowns and has taken various initiatives to increase the stock through both international and domestic procurement.

The state minister disclosed the information in the Parliament in response to a starred tabled question from BNP lawmaker elected from Noakhali-1 AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon.

He said that as of on Monday, the government’s food godowns hold some 19.20 lakh tons of food grains, including 15.79 lakh tons of rice and 3.39 lakh tons of wheat.

The state minister said the government is increasing food stocks through imports of rice and wheat from abroad under government-to-government (G2G) arrangements and open international tenders, alongside domestic procurement of paddy and rice from contracted rice mills and genuine farmers holding agricultural assistance cards at government-fixed prices during Boro and Aman seasons.

Regarding international procurement, the state minister said that in the current 2025-26 fiscal year, contracts have been signed to import a total of 6 lakh tons of rice — 5 lakh tons through international tenders and 1 lakh tons through G2G arrangements.

Of this, 3 lakh tons of rice have already been received, and the remaining 3 lakh tons are expected to arrive soon. For wheat, contracts have been signed to import a total of 7.10 lakh tons of wheat— 50,000 tons through international tenders and 6.60 lakh tons of wheat from the United States under G2G arrangements.

So far, 5.35 lakh tons of wheat have been received and the remaining 1.75 lakh tons are expected to arrive within the scheduled time.

The state minister said the Food Planning and Monitoring Committee (FPMC) under the Ministry of Food is responsible for setting policies for domestic food grains procurement.

Under the upcoming Boro procurement season 2026, scheduled from May to August 2026, the government plans to procure 5 lakh tons of paddy and 12/13 lakh tons of rice domestically.

He added that necessary food grains will also be procured from both international and domestic sources in the 2026-27 fiscal year as per requirement.

Published Date: April 6, 2026