"Bangladesh has now almost achieved self sufficiency in food grains (rice and wheat), with most farmers using high-yielding seeds," said the official, who requested not to be named. Besides, the government offers hefty subsidies to the agriculture sector to ensure food security and supplies fertilizer and diesel (for running irrigation pumps) at affordable prices, officials and farmers have said. The south Asian country produced 33.2 million tonnes of rice, the main staple for its more than 150 million people, in 2010, according to data available with the Department of Agriculture Extension and Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. Bangladesh, often known as the land of natural disasters, suffered no major floods or cyclones over the past two years, helping it grow bumper crops. The officials said Bangladesh's food imports in the fiscal year to June 2012 would significantly decline because of the record harvests and a satisfactory grain reserve to face any emergency. In the previous fiscal year, the country imported nearly 5.0 million tonnes of grains, government data showed. Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council Executive Chairman Wais Kabir said the government hoped to achieve 100 percent food sufficiency by 2013.