Bangladesh wheat production to fall by 20 pct-govt

DHAKA, April 1 (Reuters) Bangladesh's wheat production this summer is likely to fall by 20 percent to less than 900,000 tonnes due to a lack of rain in recent months, agriculture officials said on Saturday.

Bangladesh normally produces more than 1 million tonnes of wheat each year to supplement production of nearly 26 million tonnes of rice, the country's main staple.

''We are expecting a 20 percent fall in wheat production this year,'' said a senior agriculture ministry official, adding that dry weather ahead of summer and a shortage of fertiliser were to mainly blame.

Bangladesh harvested 1.09 million tonnes of wheat in the year to June 30, 2005, and 1.23 million tonnes in 2003/04.

Production would be sharply lower the 2005/06 target of 1.32 million tonnes.

''But it won't leave much impact on the country's overall food situation,'' Agriculture Minister M. K. Anwar told Reuters.

Harvesting of wheat has just started, and farmers said it would take a couple of weeks to complete.

Bangladesh's annual wheat demand is 3.5 million tonnes, which is partly met by government and private sector imports with the remainder being met by overseas grants.

Though Bangladesh normally produces enough rice to have a surplus after meeting its own demand, it often imports grains to meet sudden emergencies caused by floods and other natural disasters.

Bangladesh imported 100,000 tonnes of wheat in October last year through an international tender.

''Now, we are expecting 47,000 tonnes of wheat from India as grant by May or June'' said senior food department official Abdur Rashid Sarker.

REUTERS RA DS1600