DUSHANBE, January 30, 2009, Asia-Plus — The present food situation in the country remains stable and there are no serious problems with providing the country with basic food products, Economic Development and Trade Minister Ghulomjon Bobozoda announced at a press conference in Dushanbe on January 29.
According to him, compared to last summer flour prices in the country have fallen by 40 percent. “Thus the price for a 50-kilogram sack of grade 1 flour decreased from 140 somoni last summer to 95 somoni,” the minister said.
He noted that last year, the government allocated 20million somoni for formation of the state reserve of flour, while this year, the government has earmarked 50 million somoni for the state flour reserve. “Besides, there is an agreement with the Kazakh government on supplying of $4 million worth of wheat to Tajikistan this year.”
Bobozoda added that last year, Tajikistan produced 942,500 tons of grains and more than 500,000 tons of flour and 250,000 tons of grains were imported from other countries. These figures exceed Tajikistan’s annual rational requirements in grains by 1.3 percent.
The minister also told reporters that one of major topics of the upcoming government session scheduled for January 31 would be the country’s food security concept. “Under this document, the government intends to allocate some 1 billion somoni to solve of issues related to providing food security and carrying out agricultural reforms and increasing reserves,” Bobozoda said.
