Dhaka, Nov 15 (V7N)- The government has announced its decision to continue the Open Market Sale (OMS) program to maintain food security across the country.

Following the interim government's directives, the Ministry of Food launched a three-month action plan starting in August to ensure the steady distribution of food items. Food Secretary M Masudul Hasan confirmed to BSS that the program is currently active with food grains being sold at 1,133 sale centers nationwide.

The OMS program, which is managed by the food ministry, will run until the end of this month, although the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) will continue its OMS operations beyond that period.

Under this program, individuals are entitled to purchase up to 5kg of rice at Tk30 per kg and 5kg of unpackaged flour at Tk24 per kg each week. In Dhaka, the package includes 5kg of rice along with two 2kg packets of flour, priced at Tk55.

To keep food prices in check and support low-income families, the government has made revisions to the OMS Policy of 2015 and the Food Friendly Policy of 2017. These changes are aimed at modernizing food distribution methods to meet current needs.

As part of its efforts to regulate food prices, the government has introduced an online monitoring system to track rice and paddy prices. A new initiative, "real-time monitoring of rice and paddy market prices," has been launched to procure and store rice at wholesale prices from key rice-producing districts.

A mobile app and web-based software are now available to collect price data from 20 significant rice and paddy markets, helping to form a central database. Additionally, the government has removed duties on rice imports and lowered the advance income tax from 5% to 2%.

To stabilize retail rice prices, the government has authorized the import of 327,000 tons of rice from the private sector within one month, with 59 rice importers already receiving approval. This will include 247,000 tons of boiled rice and 80,000 tons of non-boiled rice.

The Food Friendly Program also continues, benefiting around 25 million people from 5 million rural families. During the lean period, these families receive 30kg of rice at Tk15 per kg for five months each year. A consumer database has been created to ensure the transparency of this program.

Under the Modern Food Storage Facility Project, with support from the World Bank, the government is enhancing its food storage capacity. Seven new modern steel silos are being constructed to increase storage from 130,000 tons to 180,000 tons.

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