Agriculture Minister Mohammad Abdur Razzaque on Saturday said the government will distribute rice among five million poor families at Tk10 per kg.

"Due to the Russia-Ukraine war the price of food grains in the country has increased a bit but we are giving all-out effort to keep the prices at a tolerable level," the minister told reporters during a visit to Bangladesh Rice Research Institute at Gazipur.

Replying to a question Abdur Razzaque said: "Prices of thin rice have increased a bit but not that of coarse rice. We are more worried about the poor people and so we are distributing rice at a cheaper price through Open Market Sale (OMS)”

"To make the agricultural sector profitable we are working to modernize cultivation of fish, poultry and paddy," he added.

Qu Dongyu, Director General of Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, also visited the institute with the Minister. -UNB