Let Bangladesh be a proud partner in a hunger-free world.
Dr. Abdul Wadud.
Let Bangladesh be a proud partner in a hunger-free world.The main components of food security are availability, access, utilization and stability. Among them, availability refers to the production and supply of sufficient food, access refers to the ability of all people to access food, and utilization refers to the proper use of food and the ability to absorb nutrients. Stability refers to ensuring the continuity of these three components, so that food security is not disrupted by any unexpected event or situation.
In Bangladesh, in addition to constitutional guarantees, the state has a formal responsibility to ensure food security for all citizens of the country in accordance with international human rights instruments. By signing the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) in 1998, Bangladesh has made a legally binding commitment to implement the right to development. According to Article 11(2) of the Covenant, the contracting states, recognizing the fundamental right of citizens to freedom from hunger, shall take other measures, including, individually and, where necessary, international cooperation and special programmes. According to Article 15 of the Constitution of Bangladesh, one of the fundamental responsibilities of the state is to achieve a gradual increase in productive forces through planned economic development and to achieve a solid improvement in the material and cultural quality of life of the people, so that the following things can be ensured for the citizens: provision of the basic necessities of life including food, clothing, shelter, education, and medical care. It is the responsibility of the state to identify the normative standards of the right to food in the country with the development commitment of Bangladesh.
Food is one of the basic needs of the citizens of a country. Therefore, with the change in the world's climate in the last few decades, all the developed and developing countries of the world, large and important institutions are busy ensuring food security through activities such as conservation of arable land, population control, artificial afforestation, national and international economic control, etc. Along with global warming and several other issues, ensuring food security is now one of the important goals.
Food grain production in Bangladesh is increasing continuously. In the last half century after independence, food grain production has increased at an average rate of about 3 percent per year. Despite this, we are importing a huge amount of food grains every year. This includes rice, wheat, corn and other products. The import volume of grain grains alone stands at 7 to 8 million tons per year. If other agricultural products; such as pulses, oilseeds, sugar, spices and dairy products are added to this, the total import volume stands at 9 to 10 million tons. The import expenditure in terms of taka stands at 80 to 90 thousand crore taka. Despite this, there is a food security deficit in the country.
Currently, about 22 percent of the country's population is suffering from food insecurity. To eliminate this, agricultural production must be increased more rapidly. Its level must be at least 4-5 percent on average per year.
Along with this, the distribution system must be improved.
The amount of cultivated land in Bangladesh is small. A total of 1 crore 8.6 million acres or 7.5 lakh 42 thousand hectares. The per capita availability is only 11 acres. Its amount is decreasing rapidly. In 1983-84, the total amount of cultivated land was 9.2 million hectares. In 1996, it decreased to 8.2 million, in 2008 to 7.7 million and in 2019, it decreased to 7.5 million hectares. The average rate of decrease in cultivated land in percentage terms was 0.96 percent annually from 1984 to 1996, 0.52 percent from 1996 to 2008, and 0.21 percent from 2008 to 2019. In 1980, the amount of agricultural land was 65.69 percent of the total land. In 2019, it decreased to 59.28 percent. Thus, the main reasons for the decrease in agricultural land are industrialization, urbanization, construction of new roads, establishment of new houses, construction of educational institutions, establishment of brick kilns, and river erosion.
Another obstacle to increasing agricultural production is the abundance of cultivable fallow land. Currently, its extent is 452,430 hectares. Fallow land accounts for 5.13 percent of the total cultivable land. The amount of cultivable fallow land is high in various sugar mills, jute mills, textile mills and railway departments of the country. Apart from this, a lot of cultivable land is lying fallow around various educational institutions, religious centers, residences of government officials and private houses and factories. Most of the land that is taken over for government or private development activities is not used for construction. The remaining land is left empty. The amount of cultivable fallow land is higher in relatively high, low and problem areas.
The decline in the quality of cultivable soil is another major obstacle to increasing agricultural production in achieving food security. On average, about 270 km2 of land is becoming barren every year. 76.2 percent of the total land in Bangladesh is now fairly barren. This amount is gradually increasing. In 2000, 107 million hectares of land were estimated to have lost fertility. Today, it has increased to 112.4 million hectares. This is a threat to our food security.
Climate change is very sensitive to crop production in Bangladesh. In this regard, it is necessary to be careful in inventing suitable agricultural technologies. In the meantime, several crop varieties that are tolerant to floods, droughts, waterlogging and salinity have been developed. It is necessary to increase investment in their continuous development and expansion. Apart from this, it is necessary to give importance to changing the crop rotation of the land and increasing the production of non-crop agricultural sectors.
Crop production is increasing in our country. At the same time, food waste is increasing. This is a major obstacle to achieving food self-sufficiency. A report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) says that an average person in Bangladesh wastes 82 kg of food per year. This amount of food waste is more in Bangladesh than in India, Russia, the UK and the US. The report titled Food Waste Index Report 2024 shows that an average person wastes 55 kg of food per year in India, 76 kg in the UK, 73 kg in the US and 33 kg in Russia.
The total arable land in the country is about 14 million hectares, of which 2.6 million hectares are flood-affected. In addition, 3 million to 4 million hectares of land are affected by various stages of drought every year. According to Bangladesh's Delta Plan-2100, about 70 percent of the country's area is located within 1 meter above sea level. Sea level may rise by 1 meter by 2050. As a result, about 3 billion hectares of land may be permanently lost and overall production may decrease by about 30 percent, which is a threat to food security in the future.
As a result of the continuous progress and success of science and technology, the country's food situation is currently satisfactory, but in the future it will become more difficult to cope with the pressure of increasing population and decreasing agricultural land. Although the food production deficit in Bangladesh has been met, many people are falling victim to various diseases and dying due to malnutrition. In order to provide nutritious food security to the people of the country in line with the Eighth Five-Year Plan, National Agricultural Policy, National Seed Policy, National Food Policy and SDGs, it is necessary to take many steps including safe food production to avoid public health risks, creation of orchards and expansion of vegetable cultivation in hilly areas for backward ethnic groups, and integrated agricultural support projects in underdeveloped char and haor areas. Crop density should be improved by converting one and two crop lands into four crop lands. To ensure safe food, public awareness should be created on what to do to keep food safe and nutritious during production, marketing, processing, cooking and serving. By formulating an improved social security management strategy, increasing food production through modern agricultural management through e-commerce and digitalization, Bangladesh will become a poverty-free country and a proud partner and role model for a hunger-free world.
Author: Dr. Abdul Wadud
The father of the Fikamli theory,
an educator, researcher, and political analyst,
is a wildlife expert.
মোঃ কামরুজ্জামান মিলন
সম্পাদক ও প্রকাশক কর্তৃক তুহিন প্রিন্টিং প্রেস ফকিরাপুল ঢাকা থেকে মুদ্রিত।
ই-মেইল: 𝐝𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐤𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬@𝐠𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐥.𝐜𝐨𝐦
ই-পেপার: 𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫.𝐝𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐤𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬.𝐜𝐨𝐦
ওয়েবসাইট: 𝐰𝐰𝐰.𝐝𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐤𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬.𝐜𝐨𝐦
মোবাইল: ০১৯২৭-৩০২৮৫২/০১৭৫০-৬৬৭৬৫৪
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