Per capita rice intake keeps falling: BBS

Average daily per capita rice consumption in Bangladesh maintained its declining trend in 2022, as it fell by 10 per cent to 328.9 grammes from 367.2 grammes in 2016, according to data of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).

However, consumption of other non-cereal foods rose in the period, according to the BBS data released today.

Mentionable, per capita consumption of rice was 416 grammes in 2010, according to the Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2022 unveiled by the BBS.

The latest data showed that people in urban areas consume 284.7 grammes of rice, which is 13.44 per cent lower than the national average.

But rural people take 348.1 grammes, which is 5.84 per cent higher than the national average.

As such, Bangladesh's annual human consumption requirement of rice would be over 2 crore tonnes, which was much lower than the country's estimated rice production of 3.81 crore tonnes in 2021-22 fiscal year.

Apart from the decline in rice intake, per capita consumption of egg also dropped between 2022 and 2016.

Per head average daily egg consumption dropped to 12.7 grammes last year from 13.6 grammes in 2016, 

While per capita daily rice consumption showed a steady decline in the last 12 years, intake of protein and vegetables grew over the years, according to the latest HIES 2022.

For instance, daily average per head consumption of vegetables rose by 21 per cent to 201.9 grammes in 2022 from 167.3 grammes six years ago.

Here, people living in rural areas consumed more vegetables than the urbanites.

However, in case of fish, meat, milk and milk products, urban people are bigger consumer than rural residents, according to the HIES data.