Stop eating polished rice to help reduce its price: Food Minister

Food minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder on Thursday requested consumers to stop eating  shiny polished rice in order to reduce the price of the staple.

"The government is working to stop rice polishing process by making a new law. We have also stopped marketing rice under different names like Miniket. I would say to the consumers stop eating shiny rice, the price of rice will come down and we will also be able to export rice," he said while inaugurating an international exhibition at the International Convention City Bashundhara (ICCB) in the city as the chief guest.

After polishing, there remains no nutrient in rice except carbohydrate, he said, adding that the polishing process of rice involves electricity cost and labour wage and these extra costs are ultimately added to the price of rice.
Sadhan Majumder said, "We destroy around 12 lakh tonnes of rice every year by polishing, out of around 4 crore tonnes of rice we grow annually. Once we stop polishing rice, we can export at least half of the quantity. As we have adequate stocks of rice in the country, we will be able to export 5 to 7 lakh tonnes of rice by stopping polishing rice."

"Thats why the government is going to implement the new law from this Aman season. The rice millers who will polish rice will be punished or penalised for the offence of polishing rice," he warned.
 
According to the organisers, food, agro-technology, poultry, dairy products, medical equipment and health tourism are on display at the International Exhibition.

The Global USA organiszed the exhibition. More than 100 companies from 15 countries including Bangladesh, Turkey, India, Singapore, Germany, South Korea, Sri Lanka and China are participating in the three-day which ends on Saturday.