Opposition Leader Warns of Famine in Bangladesh

The failure of the Bangladesh government to tackle the country’s current food crisis could lead to a famine, the leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Khaleda Zia, told a press conference yesterday.

Prices of rice rose by at least 25 pct across the country in March and the government has begun emergency rice and wheat sales to lower cereal prices, a food ministry report said.

Ministry officials said the next harvest, due in mid-April will ease the situation. “Temporary grain shortage in the arid north and some other rain-starved regions is not unusual at this time of the year,” one official said.

Khaleda, said corrupt practices by food officials and failure to procure enough grains contributed to the crisis. Her remarks coincided with newspaper reports that a continuing heat wave has destroyed thousands of acres of crops in the south-west.

Officials said last week Bangladesh now has only 390,000 tonnes of grain in stock which would be exhausted in two or three weeks. Bangladesh expects to produce 14.5 mln tonnes of rice and 1.5 mln tonnes of wheat in 1986/87 ending June 30. It revised its food import target for this fiscal year upward by 300,000 tonnes to 1.8 mln.