POBNEWS24, Dhaka, Mar 29, 2022 : Agriculture Secretary. Chhayedul Islam said that at present the Ministry of Agriculture has no plan to stop the import of onions. This information was given by the Agriculture Secretary at a meeting to review the progress of implementation of the Annual Development Program (ADP) in the conference room of the Ministry of Agriculture at the Secretariat on Tuesday (March 29). The meeting was attended by senior officials of the ministry, heads of agencies and project managers.
The meeting was informed that the number of projects under implementation of the Ministry of Agriculture in the current fiscal year 2021-22 is 8.
Total allocation is Tk 3,124 crore. As of February 2022, the implementation progress has been 40 percent, which is 5 percent more than the national average progress. At this time the national average progress has been 35 percent.
The Agriculture Secretary said, “As you know, a few days ago, the upward trend in onion prices was being noticed.” Then the IP was opened for onion import from the Ministry of Agriculture. Because it was temporarily shut down. We can see the reflection of opening IP in the market. Now media reports show that the price of onion is going down. However, here you will see that the price of imported onion has come down. But what our local onion farmers are picking from the field has a good price.
Regarding onion import, he said, “I saw in some media that IP will be closed after 26th, 27th and 29th.” I would like to inform you that no such initiative has been taken by the Ministry of Agriculture. We do not have any instructions or plans to issue or close the IP.
“We consider the protection of the interests of both farmers and consumers in allowing onion imports,” he said. So far farmers are getting good price of onion. On the other hand, the holy month of Ramadan is starting ahead. We are also considering not to increase the price of onion at this time.
The secretary said, “We think that the month of Ramadan is ahead. In this month of Ramadan, all our devout Muslims are celebrating together.” Religions belong to everyone but we celebrate festivals in the same way. That we can do it with joy. That is what we are keeping in mind.
He said the Ministry of Agriculture is playing a very important role in the economic development of Bangladesh. Not only economics but also economic and social importance of agriculture was immense in the past. Although the contribution of agriculture to our GDP is about 14 percent.
