Govt’s food distribution slides 14% in first quarter

Government's food distribution under various social protection schemes declined 14 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of fiscal year (FY) 2024-25, mainly because of reduced transfer of grains under the Food for Work (FFW) and Food Friendly Programme (FFP).

Public agencies, including the Directorate General of Food and the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, distributed 7.5 lakh tonnes of rice and wheat between July 1 and October 10 this year.

This was a marked decrease from the 8.75 lakh tonnes distributed by state agencies between July 1 and October 12 of the previous fiscal year, according to the food ministry data.

The distribution of grains under the FFW scheme, deployed mostly in the semi-urban and rural areas to support poor people, slumped to only 74 tonnes between July 1 and October 10 this year from 10,000 tonnes in the same period a year ago.

The decline was recorded during a time when high food prices squeezed the purchasing power of poor and low-income people.

Md Kamrul Hasan, secretary of the disaster management and relief ministry, said food grains are distributed under various FFW programmes. He added that requests to release cereal under the FFW are sent from the field level.

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"We are yet to receive requests from the field level. We usually deliver food on a quarterly basis. We will distribute the grains soon," he said.

However, he said the ministry distributed a lot of grains under the Gratuitous Relief scheme.

Data shows that the relief and disaster management ministry's distribution under the scheme nearly tripled to 27,830 tonnes between July 1 to October 10 this year from 10,275 tonnes in the previous year.

"We have given plenty of relief to flood-affected districts," Hasan said.

However, the distribution of food grains under the Vulnerable Group Feeding scheme, a fully subsidised social safety net programme, slumped to 15,800 tonnes in the period from 28,000 tonnes a year ago.

At the same time, there was a jump in the transfer of another fully subsidised scheme under the Vulnerable Group Development or Vulnerable Women Benefit.

Under the monetised or cash-based food distribution schemes, the food directorate increased sales of rice and wheat under the Open Market Sales programme, a popular scheme in urban areas.

Sales of cereal at subsidised prices under the scheme grew 5 percent year-on-year to 3.19 lakh tonnes from July 1 to October 10.

However, distribution dipped 36 percent to 1.88 lakh tonnes under the FFP during the period, according to the food ministry.

The FFP is a poor-friendly initiative under which the government provides rice to 50 lakh families at Tk 15 per kilogramme (kg).

Every month, each of these families gets 30 kgs of rice for five months in two phases each year.

Contacted, a food ministry official said the ministry distributed 4.5 lakh tonnes of rice under the FFP scheme from September to November. Some 1.5 lakh tonnes will be delivered soon, he said.

"We bought high quantities of wheat last year. So, we had to release a higher quantity of rice in advance at that time to create space to keep wheat in storage," he said.