Minister lays out govt initiatives to ensure food security for extreme poor in Parliament

Food Minister Md Abdul Bari has said that under the Food-Friendly Programme, 5.5 million families in 495 upazilas are being provided with 30kg of rice per family per month at a price of Tk15 per kg for six months a year (August - November and March - April).

Accordingly, a total of 1 million tonnes of rice has been allocated in the budget for the 2025 - 26 fiscal year. As of 19 March, 7.93 lakh tonnes of rice have already been distributed under this programme.

He provided the information on Sunday in the National Parliament while responding to a written question from Nilphamari - 3 constituency MP Obaidullah Salafi.

He further said that under the same programme, to meet the nutritional needs of the extremely poor, 3.7 lakh tonnes of fortified rice enriched with Vitamin A, Vitamin B1, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B9 (folic acid), iron, and zinc are being supplied to 248 upazilas for five months in the 2025 - 26 fiscal year.

The food minister said that to ensure food security for low-income groups by controlling market prices, rice is being sold at Tk30 per kg, loose flour at Tk24 per kg, and 2 kg packaged flour at Tk55 through 1,011 sales centres under the OMS (Open Market Sale) programme in 12 city corporations, 14 labour-intensive districts, and 52 district municipalities.

Daily, 51,185 tonnes of rice and 1,432 tonnes of flour are being sold. Additionally, as a special measure to control rising rice prices, 406 tonnes of rice are being sold daily at Tk30 per kg through 836 sales centres in 418 upazilas.

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He also mentioned that for the 2025 - 26 fiscal year, the OMS programme has a budget allocation of 3 lakh tonnes of rice and 5.25 lakh tonnes of wheat. As of 19 March 2026, 2.09 lakh tonnes of rice and 3.27 lakh tonnes of wheat-based flour have been sold, which is approximately 70% of the allocated budget.

Regarding TCB products, the food minister said that based on the demand from the Ministry of Commerce, the Directorate General of Food is supplying rice through TCB. A total of 33,833 tonnes of rice is being sold monthly at Tk30 per kg among 6,766,667 families.