State Minister for Food Md. Abdul Bari. File Photo

SANGSAD BHABAN, April 5, 2026 (BSS) - State Minister for Food Md. Abdul Bari today said the current government is committed to ensuring food security for the extreme poor people of the country. 

“Through the food-friendly programme, 30 kg of rice is being distributed to 5.5 million families in 495 upazilas for 6 months a year (August-November and March and April) at a price of Tk 15 per kg per family per month,” he said while responding to a written question from opposition party MP elected from Nilphamari-3 Obaidullah Salafi.
Accordingly, the State Minister said, a total of 10 lakh metric tons of rice has been allocated in the budget for this sector in the 2025-26 fiscal year.
Until March 19, 2026, he mentioned some 7.93 lakh metric tons of general rice have been distributed in this sector (which is about 79.25% of the allocated budget).
Also, under the same programme, 3.07 lakh metric tons of nutritious rice enriched with Vitamin A, Vitamin B1, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B9 (Folic acid), Iron and Zinc are being provided to some
248 upazilas in 5 months of the 2025-26 fiscal year to meet the nutritional needs of the poorest of the poor, the state minister said.

In order to ensure food security of the low-income population through market price control, he said that through the OMS (General) program, 1,091 sales centers in 12 city corporations, 14 labor-intensive districts and 52 district headquarter municipalities are selling 1,185 metric tons of rice and 1,432 metric tons of flour daily at the price of Taka 30 per kg of rice and 2 kg of loose flour at the price of Taka 24 and Taka 55 for 2 kg of packet flour.

In addition, as a special programme to control the high price of rice, 406 metric tons of rice are being sold daily in the upazila markets through 836 sales centers in 418 upazilas at the price of Taka 30 per kg of rice.

In the fiscal year 2025-26, there is a budget of 3 lakh metric tons of rice and 5.25 lakh metric tons of wheat in the OMS. Till March 19, 2026 some 2.09 lakh MT of rice and 3.27 lakh MT of wheat flour have been sold (which is about 70% of the allocated budget). 

The State Minister also said that in view of the demand of the Ministry of Commerce, the Food Department is selling 33,833 MT of rice to some 67,66,667 families through TCB at a price of Tk 30 per kg every month.