Notwithstanding its notable improvement on certain counts, Bangladesh's standing in the latest Global Food Security Index (GFSI), does hardly match with the tall claims the policymakers make very often. This index is designed and constructed by the Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) of The Economist, an internationally acclaimed, London-based publication and sponsored by DuPont. With a score of 39.7 in the scale of 100 points, the country's ranking in the GFSI-2017 is 89th among 113 countries. The position is the lowest in South Asia. The index listed seven major challenges, including, among others, poor public expenditure on research and development in the agriculture sector, corruption, low diet diversification and food consumption as a share of household expenditure. Bangladesh has been facing such challenges in areas of food security.
The country's food output has doubtlessly gone up manifold over the last four decades due to widespread introduction of modern farm technology. But vulnerability of food production to natural calamities remains as before. Everybody has learnt this hard truth again this year when all food production projections went haywire due to two consecutive floods. A large shortfall in production, coupled with severe depletion of government food stock, pushed the price of rice, the main staple, to a record high level. The price of the item is yet to show any sign of coming down even at this peak aman harvesting season. Indications are that the price level would continue to be high also in the future months, putting the food security of poor and low-income families at risk.
One would, naturally, find the content of a recent report of the SANEM (South Asian Network of Economic Modelling) quite relevant to the outcome of the negative developments in food production. The report estimates that over 0.52 million people have been pushed below the poverty line by the ongoing hike in rice prices. Finance Minister AMA Muhith, however, expressed his inability to accept the finding of the report saying that such assessment could not be made readily or within a short period of time. However, he admitted that soaring rice prices have put many people into problems, causing erosion in their savings. The high prices of rice surely have forced many poor families to cut their food consumption and the problem still lingers on.
The truth is higher food production ensures the availability of food and Bangladesh scorecard on that count, according to the GSFI-2017, is not that bad. The score is more than 50 in the 100-point scale. Yet a country has to meet a number of requirements to help improve its food security situation. Most African countries are facing serious problems in this particular area. But Bangladesh, having an impressive scorecard in economic growth performance and social development parameters in recent years, should have been better placed in meeting both food security and safety of its vulnerable segment of population.
Inefficient management of food, failure to boost food production due to highly inadequate spending on areas of research and development in agriculture sector and, obviously, multi-pronged corruption are among the key factors contributing to the country's unsatisfactory food security situation. Any improvement in the current state of affairs would call for policy and management changes in relevant areas. And the government has to be proactive to implement such changes.
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