Staff Reporter
The government yesterday ruled out any possibility of food shortage or crisis in the country but acknowledged that Cyclone Sidr has damaged crops worth about Tk 2,000 crore on some 5.53 lakh hectares of land in 30 districts. Of the damaged crops Aman paddy was damaged on 4.18 lakh hectares of land, which will bring down this year’s farm output by 8 lakh tones, said Agriculture Adviser CS Karim at a press briefing at the PID conference room.
The Adviser said the country now needs to import a total of 19 lakh tones of rice and the government has already moved for the import of 5 lakh tones while the donors have promised to provide another 5 lakh tones. [Read more]