Bangladesh

Food security for a household means access by all members at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life. Food security includes at a minimum (1) the ready availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods, and (2) an assured ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways (that is, without resorting to emergency food supplies, scavenging, stealing, or other coping strategies).

The idea of comprehensive food security in Bangladesh is comparatively new. Therefore, the food policy and its operational aspects have so far been geared mainly towards maintaining a balance between aggregate supply and total requirement. A comprehensive food security policy should include the level, periodicity, the availability-access-utilisation of food, its nutritional dimensions, the administration of the food distribution system and a monitoring mechanism.

As has been observed through the preceding discussion, a comprehensive food security analysis needs to cover a wide range of dimensions. In an attempt to capture the varied dimensions, food security situation in Bangladesh is examined in terms of three broad dimensions as outlined below:- Availability of food (determined by domestic production, external trade and the efficiency of distribution through markets and other channels; - Access to food (determined by households' income, government transfers, assistance from friends and relatives, remittances from abroad and assistance from NGOs -Utilization of food (determined by individual preferences, health and environmental factors affecting absorption of food.

The food security issue is the core element in the struggle against poverty. Food security or insecurity has several dimensions, such as level of aggregation (national, household or individuals), seasonal production of staples, nutritional balance in diet, people’s access to and utilization of food, and temporal uncertainty of supplies often caused by natural disaster or price hikes. Food security is given the topmost priority in Bangladesh. Side by side with domestic food production, greater importance is given to ensure access to adequate and safe food by all people at all times for maintaining an active and healthy life. Especially adequate access of the poor and vulnerable sections of the people to food absolutely requires improvement of their purchasing capacity and this will be accomplished through creation of employment opportunities in farm and non-farm sector. In addition, targeted food distribution programmes will be implemented in a cost-effective manner and to the extent that it does not depress domestic food grain prices too much to reduce incentives of the rice producers.

Despite significant progress in domestic grain production, poverty and food insecurity problems are massive in the country. Approximately half of the population lacks the resources to acquire enough food and consequently remain below the poverty line. The proportion of people below poverty line dropped by 10 percentage points between 1985/86 and 2000. Extreme poverty also decreased at a similar rate. The gains in nutritional intake have not been so impressive. While average consumption of calories slightly increased, consumption of protein practically remained unchanged. About three-fourths of the total calorie intake is obtained from cereals, practically rice.

More importantly, there are substantial variations in calorie consumption among regions and expenditure groups. At the household level food distribution among the members is not necessarily equal. Generally, women and children have less access to food than adult males. The per capita consumption of meat and eggs by the urban consumers is almost equal to the desirable of future consumption, but for rural consumers, consumption of these items falls far short of the requirement. The high consumption of cereals but low intake of pulses and other animal-based proteins results in a high level of anaemia and other micro nutrient deficiencies.

Keeping view these concerns, the Government has formulated several national food policies since 1988. The national food and nutrition policy, 1997 and the national plan of action for nutrition are more comprehensive and these may form a starting point for the implementation of the policies. The long-term strategy for food security requires action on two fronts. First is assurance of a continuous and low-cost food supply. Second is an income distribution that provides adequate purchasing power in the hands of the poor. To this end, the Government attempts to ensure affordable food supply through efficiency gains in production, distribution and trade. Indeed,
efficient domestic production of food will require increased investment in technology generation through research and its dissemination through effective extension services. Efficiency in food distribution will require credit support to food traders, removal of legal impediments to the grain trade, removal of extortion and harassment in food transportation, and reliable access to the international market for the import and export of grains.
 

National Food Policy 1988

Report of the Task force on Comprehensive Food Security policy of Bangladesh

Food Security in Bangladesh: Gerard J. Gill

Source:  Unlocking the Potential: National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction (PRSP)
Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh