NEWS & EVENTS

The Members of the National Assembly led by the Hon'ble Speaker attended a presentation on the mandates and operations of the Food Corporation of Bhutan Limited (FCBL). The Opposition Leader was also present. The team is led by Chief Executive Officer Dorji Tashi. The presentation included the primary mandate of the corporation that revolves around ensuring food security for the nation at all times, the import and export trends, plans and way forward. The corporation had also presented the opportunities and challenges in shouldering the social and business mandate. The presentation concluded by reflection on what might be a situation if FCBL is closed down. The Members sought clarification on several issues related to the need to relook at its old mandate and the need to restructure. The Members also advised the corporation to assess its function with the marketing department of the Agriculture Ministry and private sectors selling similar products. Suggested to focus on value addition, packaging and facilitating sale of farmer's produce and explore export promotion. The Members also recognized FCBL's huge role in price control and requested to advertise its rate of food items through all forms of social media. The Members also raised their concern on the chemical content of agri products and feared that the agri products may not pass the certification if applied. It had really been a fruitful discourse between the Members and the FCBL team. The presentation was organized as a follow up on the deliberation of the Economic and Finance Committee's Review Report on the National Budget for Financial Year 2023-24 wherein the House recommended mandatory review of four State Owned Enterprises of which FCBL is one. The other three being Kuensel's business beyond newspaper, Livestock Corporation Ltd and Farm Machinery Centre.