DHAKA: Bangladesh will build emergency food stocks through imports and local procurement, the head of the country’s army-backed interim government said on Wednesday.“We hope the stock will be built up by the end of the current harvesting season,” Fakhruddin Ahmed told reporters after visiting a cut-price shopping outlet in the capital of Dhaka on Wednesday.

He did not say how much food would be put in the emergency stocks. But Food and Disaster Ministry officials said the government planned to have minimum stocks of 1.0 million tonnes of rice and wheat.

The ministry now has nearly 600,000 tonnes of rice and wheat to meet emergency needs.

Bangladesh has set up over 7,000 cut-price outlets across the country since January to help middle and low-income groups of people cope with rising food prices. More than 50 truck-mounted mobile shops have also been pressed into operation in the capital Dhaka since late last month.

Bangladesh needs emergency food stocks because it is prone to floods and cyclones, officials said.

Bangladesh lost three million tonnes of food crops following floods and Cyclone Sidr last year. The disasters together killed nearly 5,000 people and displaced millions.—Reuters