FOOD SECURITY, Assessment on Bangladesh and Remaining Parts of the World

FOOD SECURITY STATUS AND CHALLENGES

Food security situation in Bangladesh has improved, especially on the availability food, and further improvements on access and utilization, to be sustainable and large-scale, needs renewed efforts from the government, civil society (including media) and the development partners. Records say in 70s’, 70% people were under the food consumption poverty line. Today this is down to under half of the population. Today, though people are not dying, they are going hungry and becoming stunted with reduced mental and physical capacity. They are suffering. The hungry population of over 60 million people is larger than most other global cases- the third largest poor population in any country after China and India5. Nearly half of Bangladesh’s children are underweight, making it one of the most severe cases of malnutrition in the world. While Bangladesh has definitely got more food than it had thirty years back, yet almost half of Bangladesh is still far from being food secure. The World Bank and GoB-UN in their respective reports on MDGs, put the target of 34% children being underweight as non-attainable at present rates of progress. Much will need to be done to achieve the 2015 MDG target of halving the proportion of people who suffer from hunger and malnutrition. Demographic changes in upcoming years are likely to affect poverty and hunger in adverse ways. While poverty is an overall denominator of this food insecurity in the country, the additional intensifiers are disability (gender, age, and physical challenge) and location (disaster proneness, access to the market, etc) as well as other aspects related to utilization (education, awareness, cultural practices, etc). Issues of governance and accountability further thwart attempts at providing targeted safety nets and price stabilization.

FOOD AVAILABILITY

Background

Food availability is one of the three conditions of food security as defined in the World

Food Summit. The other two conditions are access and utilization. This paper focuses on the availability of food as an essential element of the concept of food security. In addition to rice and wheat that constitute the staple food of Bangladesh, the paper deals with the production and availability issues of other major food commodities, such as potato, pulses, oilseeds, vegetables and fruits, and fisheries and livestock products. Maize has not been considered as it is still a minor cereal in terms of human consumption. Availability is a function of domestic production, imports, food aids and security stock. Of these, domestic production is critical in ensuring food availability at both national and household levels. Therefore, domestic production of food grains is a major concern of every Government and all efforts are made to boost production of rice and wheat to ensure food security. However, in recent years, the Government is putting additional efforts to increase production of other important food crops as well as fisheries and livestock.

World food prices and situation in Bangladesh

AMID deepening hunger crisis, Bangladeshis gradu­ally beginning to stand on her own feet. One standing crop, Boro, is going to change the see-The impact of the healthy farm condition is being reflected in the wholesale and retail markets of staple foods, and the prices are going down everyday. The lines in the Open Market Sales (OMS) shops are shortening gradually.

Although riots caused by spiraling food have been reported from Egypt, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Ethiopia, Madagascar, the Philippines, Indonesia, Haiti, Burkina Faso and Senegal prices, the government of Bangladesh has – efficiently managed the situation through a concerted effort, and averted any untoward incident.

The number of OMS centers and BDR outlets, and per head quota, has been increased. Vulnerable Group Feeding and Vulnerable Group Development cards for the rural destitute have been increased Besides, the allocations for Food for Work Programme, Test Relief and Gratuitous Relief have been increased to strengthen the social safety net.

The government allocated TK. one billion to generate immediate employment for the rural poor, which had an effect on the market, and the low-income families and fixed-income groups got great relief.

In contrast, lines in the OMS shops in Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and many other countries are getting longer every day. The Food and Agriculture Organization estimated that the world has four to five million tons of cereal stocks that could feed the global population for only 8-12 weeks. A UN study group said that prices of staple foods such as rice, maize and wheat are expected to rise. Since March 2007, prices of rice have soared 76% for wheat 130% and soya beans 87%.

UNICEF says that the impact of higher food prices is particularly marked in poor countries where 75% of a family’s revenue goes on food, compared to rich countries. where just 15% of a household’s income is spent on meals. IMF warned that the price hike of food items could trigger social and political upheavals and security risks.

World Bank experts say that food price hikes have an effect on pov­erty in poorer countries, posing challenges in terms of nutrition and hunger. This might make it difficult to attain the targets for human development in the MDGs.

Thanks God, Bangladesh, being a member of the poor group, has escaped from the forecasted risks for the next 4-5 months at least. The increased potato production and expected bumper Boro (one of the two main rice that grows in Bangladesh, the other is AMAN) and maize production, if no natural calamities occur in the next two weeks, gives strength the country to say “no” to the international forecasts.

The government has taken a good number of steps to sustain the comfortable situation in food production and supply.

Expecting a record 17.5 million tons of Boro rice this year (previous highest was 16.2 million tons in 2006), harvesting of the crop has started in the haor areas of Sunamganj, Kishoreganj and Netrokona districts. As ensuring fair price at the growerslevel is the best way to raise the morale of the fann­ers to grow more in the next season, the government has been acting promptly and properly. It has already started procuring Boro rice and paddy from April 16, beginning from Sunamganj district.

The procurement price for rice has been set at TK. 28 per kg, up from TK. 18 a year ago. It has set a target of procuring 1.2 million tons of rice during the drive and, if needed, it will procure more. During the drive, the government will also buy 0.3 million tons paddy from growers at TK.. 18 per kg. Farmers across the country have been expressing their happiness over the procurement price, as they could make a profit at that price.The government considered five aspects in fixing the procurement prices. These are cost of production, farmers’ incentives, consumers’ interest, enhancement of govern­ment food stock and market price. The government estimated the production cost at TK.. 19.23 and TK.. 13.19 for a kg of rice and paddy » respectively, which is close to the I production cost, TK.. 20.80 for a kg of ‘ Boro rice on an average, estimated by the Centre for Policy Dialogue. According to trite government’s estimates, the cost of Boro production went up to TK.. 68,928 per hectare « – Hg year from TK. 46,115 last year. Mainly due to increase in the prices of fertiliser, seeds, irrigation and insecticides. It is expected that the government could achieve procure­ment targets this time as the prices have been fixed considering 40% profit on production costs.Apart from procuring rice and paddy from the local markets, the government has a plan to buy another1.7 million tons of rice from the global market to build a safe stock, keeping in mind the growing demand and the import in the year as the government imported 1.7 million tons during the first eight months of the current fiscal year. The government ware;2million tons of rice, which could be raised to 1.4 million. The gov­ernment is planning to utilize vacant warehouses owned by other government departments for food storage.

Food necessity in Bangladesh

Bangladesh is a small country. But it has a population of over 144million. Every year our population is increasing by 2million. If per capita rice consumption is 489.08gms daily and our population is 144 million, we need total 25703942 metric ton rice in a year. But with our increasing population we need additional 356000 metric ton rice.

Foods produced in Bangladesh

Bangladesh is mainly an agricultural country. Agriculture is the single largest producing sector of the economy and it contributes about 22% to the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country. This sector also accommodates around 48.1% of labor force. GDP growth rate of Bangladesh mainly depends on the performance of the Agriculture sector. Although due to natural calamities like flood, loss of production of food and cash crops are almost regular phenomenon. Yet in recent years, there has been substantial increase in food grain production. Agricultural holding in Bangladesh are generally small but use of modern machinery is gradually increasing. Rice, Jute, Sugarcane, Potato, Pulses, Wheat, Tea and Tobacco are the principal crops. Crop diversification programme, credit, extension and research and input distribution policies pursued by the government are yielding positive result. The country is now on the threshold of attaining self-sufficiency in food grain production.

Domestic production:

10 years Production of rice, wheat & maize

Food grain production, particularly rice production has doubled in the last two decades with the use of Green Revolution technology (high yielding varieties, fertilizer, irrigation and pesticide) coupled with growth of institutional infrastructure and a positive shift in public policy and market forces. As a major staple, rice occupies 71 percent of the gross cropped area and accounts for over 94 percent of food grain production. Its contribution to total per capita calorie and protein intake is 74 percent. Rice thus occupies the centre stage of food security and continues to draw major attention of the Government for further increasing the production. Rice production continues to increase, but wheat production is showing a declining trend in recent years. Remarkable progress has been made in rice production during the last ten years.

In 1994-95, rice production was 16.83 million tons, which has steadily increased to 26.19 million tons in 2003-04 (Table 1). Rice production estimated for the year 2004-05 is 25.16 million tons. Wheat production also increased from 1.25 million tons in 1994-95 to 1.91 million tons in 1998- 99. It then started declining and the production has come down to 0.97 million tons (estimated) in 2004-05. Similarly, pulses and oilseed production steadily declined mainly because of the loss of areas under these crops to Boro rice and other remunerative winter crops. Production of vegetables and fruits has increased, but at a slow pace from 1.21 million tons and 1.41 million tons in 1994-95 to 1.61 million tons and 1.55 million tons in 2002-03 respectively. But the production of vegetables jumped to 6.13 million tons in 2003-04 and 7.28 million tons in 2004- 05 according to the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE). Fruit production has also jumped to 4.60 million tons in 2004-05. Spectacular success has been achieved in the production of potato. It has made a quantum jump from 1.47 million tons in 1994-95 to 5.95 million tons in 2004-05 (Table 1). Production of non-cereals such as pulses, oilseeds, vegetables and fruits, which are the chief sources of protein, mineral and vitamin, still remains far below the actual requirements, making it difficult to provide balanced diet for all.

Out of the four components of availability (national food production, commercial imports, food aid and government security stocks), national food production is the major source of supply at both market and household levels. The majority of the rural population is directly involved in food production, and shortage of land is the major constraint on agricultural production. Bangladesh has only 0.07 hectares of agricultural land per capita, a figure that is declining with population growth and increased used of land for non-agricultural purposes. This continued expansion of the population base tends to lessen the food security of marginal farmers and leads to increased numbers of landless households.

In spite of severe land constraints, however, Bangladesh has made considerable progress in food grain production, making it virtually self-sufficient in rice under normal climatic conditions. Rice plays the dominant role in Bangladesh agriculture, occupying around 75 percent of the cultivable land.

Increasing both production and productivity of rice is thus a high priority. Bangladesh has more than doubled its food grain production since independence, and total rice and wheat production reached 21.8 million MTs in 1998/99. The target food grain production for 2002 is 25 million metric tons. However, the production of other main food items such as vegetables, pulses, oil-seeds, fruits, meat, milk and eggs is insufficient, both in terms of local demand and nutritional requirements.

As shown in Table 2.1 and Figure 2.1, the food grain gap, defined as the difference between net production (production less 10 percent for seed, feed and wastage) and the food grain consumption requirement (defined as 454 grams or 16 ounces per person per day) has narrowed in recent years and is projected to be only 1.11 million MTs in 1999/2000. Thus, food grain production has more than kept pace with population growth, in large measure due to increased production of Boro rice and wheat. Production and intakes of several other crops are far below nutritional targets, however (Table 2.2). Pulses accounted for only 39 calories per person per day (1.9 percent of total calories) on average in 1997, less than one fifth of the target of 231 calories per person per day. Intake of fish and meat were about two -thirds of the target levels, and intake of vegetable oil and fruits were approximately one third and one fourth of requirements. Vegetable consumption was less than one-seventh the target level.

Domestic production accounts for nearly all the consumption of pulses, fish, most meat, eggs, milk and most vegetables. In the absence of substantial imports, increases in consumption will thus require corresponding increases in domestic production. As shown in Figure 2.2, real rice prices (i.e. rice prices adjusted for non-food price inflation), have fallen significantly over the last fifteen years, from Taka 16 to 18 per kilogram in the mid-1980s, to Taka 12 to 13 per kilogram in most recent years.

Current food availability in Bangladesh:

During Q3 FY08, the real economy showed significant signs of recovery after the subdued performance during the first two quarters that resulted mainly from the consecutive floods and the devastating cyclone, Sidr. Over the first two quarters of FY08, the growth in the crop sector slowed down mainly due to shortfall in output of aus and aman rice (by an estimated amount of 0.8 percent and 16.9 percent, respectively) against their actual production in FY07. This year’s production of boro rice, however, is likely to surpass all previous production levels and may exceed its target of 17.5 million metric tons compared with the last year’s production of nearly 15 million metric tons. With massive rehabilitation program after the natural disasters; streamlining of the subsidized input distribution programs especially fertilizer, diesel, and electricity for irrigation; and other support services including awareness campaign by the government; and measures taken by the BB for speedy disbursement of required agricultural credit underpinned by incentives of high rice prices, the farmers succeeded in bringing more land under boro cultivation than targeted. With good weather and the adoption by the government of successful measures to ensure adequate and timely availability of agricultural inputs including better seeds to the farmers that was supported by constant monitoring, the yield of boro rice is also likely to be higher than normal. The harvesting of boro rice has just started which reports good yield and high production level in different parts of the country. The overall picture, however, will be clear within the next few weeks.

The target of food grains production has been set at 30.2 million metric tons in FY08, higher by 4.5 percent over the actual production of FY07 (Table I.4). Though the production of aus and Aman rice fell short of their targets, the expected bumper harvest of Boro is likely to help achieve the target. Moreover, the production of other cereals, especially wheat and maize, is also reported to be higher than normal, with farmers cultivating more land under these crops and good weather conditions especially in the northern region contributing to higher yields.

Production in Boro season:

Boro is the main crop in Bangladesh. The main part of our staple food grain rice comes from the Boro season. Boro is produced in every part of our country. According to a statistics 55%to 60% of produced rice comes from Boro. In this year Boro is produced in 46lac75 thousand hectare land. The amount of production of Boro in this land is 1 core 75lac MT. The most is produced in sunamgonj , Kisorgonj Moymonsingha, Dinajpur, Comilla ,Nargon and Bogra dist. In most areas farmers produced High Yielding Variety (HYV). They also harvested hybrid and local variety. The productivity per acre in HYV is 2.3MT, in hybrid 2.7 acre and in local variety is 0.8MT.

Production of rice in Amon and Aush

Amon and Aush are another two crops in our country. This year the amount of harvested Amon and Aush is 1core 11lac 68 thousand MT. Last year the amount was 1 core 23lac 53 thousand MT. This year the harvest of Amon and Aush is hampered because of two reasons-Flood and Sidr.

Access to Food in Bangladesh: The Current Situation

The key issue regarding access to food is purchasing power of households, including food available through government programs. In Amartya Sen’s terminology, this ability to acquire food through the household’s own production, income, participation in government and NGO programs, gifts and borrowing is called “food entitlements”. The price of food is one determinant of access since it affects the quantity of food a household can purchase with its income.

About half of the population does not consume minimum caloric requirements, mainly because of insufficient incomes to meet their needs for food, clothing, shelter and other necessities. Food and other material goods are not the sole determinants of comfortable, happy lives. Nonetheless, poverty causes severe hardships, limits the options and often shortens the lives of millions of people in Bangladesh.

As shown in Table 3.1 and Figure 3.1, the poverty gap (the total amount of cash transfer that would be required to raise the household incomes of all poor households above the poverty line) is very large. Using national household survey data from the 1995/96 Household Expenditure Survey (the most recent year available), a rural poverty line of Taka 513 per person per month and an urban poverty line of Taka 946 per person per month, shows that about 48.5 million people in rural areas and 9.6 million people in urban areas are poor (Table 3.1 and Figure 3.1). Raising each of these individuals’ income to the poverty line would require a total of Taka 11,300 crore (2.7 billion US dollars), Taka 7,700 crore (1.8 billion US dollars) to lift the rural poor out of poverty and an additional Taka 3,600 crore (0.9 billion US dollars) to lift the urban poor out of poverty. These figures are in addition to actual food distribution and development spending in that year, when total foreign aid was 1443 million U.S. dollars (6060 crore Taka) and food aid of 737 thousand MTs of wheat was valued at 138 million U.S. dollars (570 crore Taka). Such large transfers are of course neither feasible, nor sustainable. The point is simply that no plausible increase in food aid will in itself fill the poverty gap.

A number of factors contribute to this widespread lack of access to food in Bangladesh. Insufficient government and private resources for investment in physical infrastructure (roads, bridges) contribute to slow overall economic growth. Shortage of human capital as reflected by a high level of illiteracy and general lack of education prevents individuals from reaching their potential. Unequal land distribution results in a large number of farmers with insufficient land to grow enough food for their families or earn sufficient incomes. Inadequate market infrastructure increases market margins between producers and consumer, ultimately lowering the prices producers receive for their products. Recurring natural disasters destroy the physical infrastructure, necessitating frequent rebuilding efforts.

Because of the shortage of capital and land relative to the abundant unskilled labor in Bangladesh, wages in Bangladesh are low. The average agricultural daily wage in 1998/99 was only 59 Taka/day (BBS data). Average construction wages were only slightly higher, 77 Taka/day. Using an exchange rate of 49 Tk/dollar, these wage rates are only about $1.20 and $1.60 per day, respectively, somewhat higher than the one dollar per day norm used in international poverty comparisons. But these wage rates are not large enough to keep a family out of poverty if they represent a major share of total household income. Moreover, as shown in Table 3.2 and Figure 3.2, real wages in Bangladesh agriculture show a slightly declining trend over the past twenty years. Apart from four years in the mid-1980s, (1984/85 to 1987/88), when real agricultural wages averaged 65 Taka/day (1999 prices), real wages have been below 60 Taka/day (1999 prices) every year for two decades. Real wages in the construction sector have risen by 22 percent since 1993/94, but are still 9 percent below their peak of 84 Taka/day (1999 prices), and the long-term trend is flat.

Not only is the average level of income low, but variability of incomes results in transitory food insecurity for many households. Households may be able to afford sufficient food in normal times, but lack this capability in times of natural disasters or other emergencies. Therefore, special attention needs to be given to disaster prevention and the food security of households affected by natural disasters.

In addition, some pockets of Bangladesh such as Rangpur, Jamalpur and Kurigram are particularly food insecure. Major reasons for this include river erosion in these areas, little non-farm employment and unequal land distribution. Monitoring of these areas is particularly important in times of droughts, floods or economic recessions.

Monga And Its Impact On The Food Security Of Bangladesh

The Northern Region of Bangladesh is situated in the Tista and Jamuna basin, and contains many tributaries of these. Topography and climate make the area ecologically vulnerable to destabilizing variations including floods, river erosion, drought spells, and cold waves, all of which occur more frequently and intensely than in other regions. Amidst these compelling conditions, the local economy shows little diversification and is heavily dependent on agriculture – which yields only one or sometimes two annual harvests, in contrast with three crops per year in more fertile and benign parts of the country. In this setting, local employment is limited from September through December – in average years. As the landless and poorest survive on agricultural wage labor, their opportunities and ensuing incomes drop in this period, and they become trapped in what is called Monga – a cyclical phenomenon of poverty and hunger.

Impact Of Monga On Food Security

For those who seriously start to reduce food intake, the lean season turns into monga. People reduce the amount of food by taking fewer meals per day or by reducing the quantity per meal. Interviews with different families showed that food intake is reduced to one or two meals per day and sometimes they are not eating at all. Most of them consume two or three meals during normal times.

The famine of 1974 in Bangladesh bears an analogy to the monga phenomenon. Heavy flooding during summer and autumn 1974 led to extensive damages on the newly planted aman crop and employment opportunities for the agricultural laborers decreased stronger than usual. The traders expected a low supply of paddy for the coming harvest and therefore a high price. Overestimations of the shortfall led to a price explosion which peaked in November. The rural poor, weakened by the severe lean season, could not fulfil their basic needs because the prices were too high.

Concrete manifestations of Monga :

• The poorest households are pushed into distress conditions, and become compelled to sell their assets for survival.
• Monga affected families are taking maximum one meal per day.
• Pregnant, children, lactating mothers including elderly people are s uffering from malnutrition.
• Rate of diseases increase due to malnutrition and distressed life conditions.
• Theft and hijacking increase in the Monga affected areas.
• Poor vulnerable people are changing their professions.
• Unrest and domestic violence tend to increase.
• Able-bodies boys and men migrate to cities and more resourceful rural regions of the country.
• Babies are born underweight and suffer malnutrition from their first days on ward.

Areas Affected By Monga
The map shows that Gaibandha, Lalmonirhat, Kurigram, Nilpharmari and Rangpur, which together form Greater Rangpur, were most frequently mentioned as ‘the monga districts’.

Response of government & other agencies:

The central government and some Union Parishad authorities have taken initiatives to face the Monga situation in this region. The regular VGF program has been increased with resources to reach out to additional hard-core poor families under different packages. Statistical information regarding the actual coverage of these measures is not available. Among CARE’s key informants are a District Commisioner and several Upazila Nirbahi Officers who confirm that there is no systematic approach in these responses. Most interventions by UP and Upazila officials are of small scale, and generally scattered. All government officials resented the critical tone in most newspaper reporting on the response to this year’s Monga. In some localities, army staff has been deployed to monitor the process and the local government’s response.

Weather Change And Its Effect On Food Security

A news report from August 18, 2007, in the wake of the floods in Bangladesh, states.More than 53,000 people have contracted Diarrhea in Bangladesh, mostly caused by eating stale food and drinking impure water. A field hospital has been opened in the capital, Dhaka, to treat Diarrhoea patients. ‘The overall Diarrhoea situation is grim. Everyday there is a rush of patients,’ said Ayesha Khatoon, a senior official at the government’s health directorate. ‘We are trying to cope with it.’ One doctor at the Dhaka-based International Centre for Diarrhoeal Diseases Research said the facility had received 1,100 patients on Tuesday; the highest single-day admissions in its history.’ We suspect the flow will increase further,’ said Dr Azharul Islam Khan. The country’s interim government said it was doing everything possible to ensure that flood victims get food, clean water and access to healthcare. A report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), says. Average global temperatures will increase between 1.8°C and 5.8°C over the next century, and the sea level will rise between 9 and 88 centimeters with midrange estimates of 3°C global mean warming and 45 cm sea-level rise, respectively. Increased variability in the hydrologic cycle (i.e., more floods and droughts) is expected to accompany these global-warming trends. The rate of change in climate is faster now than in any period in the last thousand years. And while industrialized countries are most responsible for causing global warming, it is the low-income countries with little capacity to adapt that are the most vulnerable. With the juxtaposition of scientific facts by academics and theoreticians with cold, hard, reality, it is becoming increasingly difficult to shy away from the truth. Climate change is, indeed, not a myth. In October 1999, a cyclone in Orissa, India, caused 10,000 deaths. The total number of people affected was estimated at 10-15 million; in December 1999, floods in and around Caracas, Venezuela, killed approximately 30,000 people, many in shanty towns on exposed slopes. The hurricane Sidr, which hit Bangladesh’s southern coast on November 15, 2007, has already claimed more than three thousand lives, and the Red Crescent has expressed fears that the toll could cross the 10,000 mark. Research conducted, and reported on, from several sources indicate that climate change is likely to have several important impacts on Bangladesh. The most significant may be through sea-level rise. The IPCC Special Report on the Regional Impacts of Climate Change indicates that Bangladesh is ‘especially at risk’ from sea-level rise and its implications: coastal erosion and land loss, inundation and sea flooding, and increasing salinity of rivers. The bottomline is this: for poor countries like Bangladesh, climate change is not just posing a threat to livelihoods, food security, and ecology, it is increasingly a threat to the lives of millions of people. One of the most devastating ways that a changing climate will impact the lives of the poorest sections of society is through the threat to health that it will pose.

Broadly, a change in climatic conditions can have three kinds of health impacts:

Those that are relatively direct, usually caused by weather extremes; the health consequences of various processes of environmental change and ecological disruption that occur in response to climate change; the diverse health consequences – traumatic, infectious, nutritional, psychological and other – that occur in demoralised and displaced populations in the wake of climate-induced economic dislocation, environmental decline, and conflict situations.

In addition to its effect on sea level and government policy, climate change also is likely to have important effects on the prevalence of infectious diseases in Bangladesh.

Food security is achieved ‘when all people at all times have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food for a healthy and active life’. The components of food security are: the availability of food, or the amount of food that actually exists (local production and other sources); people’s physical, economic and social access to food (the capacity to produce/buy/acquire food), and the stability of this access over time; the quality or nutritional adequacy of that food; and people’s ability to utilise this food, including the patterns of control over who eats what and the physical ability to absorb nutrients (affected by health status factors such as intestinal parasites. These are determined by physical, economic, political and other conditions within communities, and are undermined by shocks such as natural disasters and conflict. Undernourishment is also an indicator sometimes used to assess food security levels. Based on national food production figures, it is a measure of food availability. Malnutrition is the condition caused by deficiencies or imbalances in energy, protein and/or other nutrients. Signs include wasting (thinness), stunting (shortness), or being underweight (low weight for age due to wasting/stunting).

Referring to the recent report on the serious scarcity of drinking and irrigation water in the northern, southern and south western parts of the country, the DPHE (Department of Public Health Engineering) officials attributed these phenomena to the cause of drought during the last several months, inadequate rainfall and inadequate flow from high areas during the dry season also cause drought. “prolonged drought may hamper irri-boro cultivation” cautioned scientists from the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) adding that the boro harvest may fall into 7.7 million tons.Drought in countries such as Australia has reduced its historically large volumes of wheat and rice exports.

SIDR

Farmers in rural areas – already affected by the recent cyclone Sidr – are hanging on to any surplus crops that are normally sold onto the markets and cities, to feed themselves. This has the ongoing impact of decreasing the supply of food to the urban areas pushing food prices up even further. City people without land are now using what savings they have to buy food.

Cyclone Sidr hit south and south-west coasts of Bangladesh late on 15 November with winds up to 240 km/hour that whipped up 5 metre tidal surge. The category 4 tropical storm was the strongest cyclone since 1991.

At the time of the passage of cyclone Sidr, the main 2007 “aman” rice crop, accounting for about 50 percent of the annual production, was being harvested. Although the full impact of the cyclone on crop production is still unclear, preliminary data from the DMB indicates that some 644 000 hectares of rice and other standing crops were totally or partially damaged. This area represents only about 6.2 percent of the total area cultivated with paddy crop, but at localized level the losses are substantial. In 11 of the worst affected coastal districts, crop losses are estimated at 95 percent of the cultivated area. Livestock losses are reported to be severe with more than 350 000 ruminants (cattle, buffalo, sheep and goats) and large numbers of poultry estimated to have been lost. Localized devastation to fisheries infrastructure and the shrimp aquaculture sector is also reported, with shrimp hatcheries badly hit, particularly in Satkhira, Khulna and Cox’Bazar districts. In Morelganj and Sharankhola upazilas, important shrimp producing areas, some 5 000 shrimp enclosures were destroyed. In Bagerhat district some 90 percent of the shrimp enclosures (gher), along the Baleshwar River are destroyed and

Flushed by tidal waves.Most of the affected population is critically dependent on agriculture for its living and many are vulnerable to food insecurity. Therefore, the severe damage to the agriculture sector will have a negative impact on their livelihood and it is anticipated to result in a deterioration of their prospective food security situation.

At national level, the crop damage due to Cyclone Sidr follows severe floods in July and August that affected some 10 million people and resulted in the lost of large area of the “aus” paddy crop (20 percent of the annual production) being harvested, and of the “aman” crop being planted. Overall, it was estimated that some 13 percent of the total area with paddy was comprised by the floods. Prospects for this year’s paddy crop have deteriorated further and the aggregate 2007 rice production could decline significantly from the good level of 2006.

River Erosion

River erosion is also responsible for food insecurity in our country. Vast tracks of cultivable land, houses and small industries are often washed away by the eroding river rendering thousands of people homeless. Erosion by the big rivers like Jamuna & Meghna continues throughout the year. But with the onset of the monsoons, they take a devastating turn. As a result every year our cultivable land is decreasing and people also become helpless and landless. That creates long term food insecurity. With Land Rivers also guzzle its crops. As a result a short term food crisis evolved in erosion affected areas.

INCLUDES……

· Soaring Food Prices

· Biofuel Fine Master Apalling Foe

· Oil Price Increase

· Water And The Environment

· Achieving Food Security And Becoming Food Surplus

· Expert Suggest Extensive Research

· Focus On Agriculture For Securing Right To Food

· Steps Taken By Government