Bangladesh is still a food importing nation. Despite progress made over the last two decades, it is yet to achieve self-sufficiency in food production. The country still imports wheat, edible oil, sugar, onion, etc. Food import expenditure is over one-fifth of the export earnings. Bangladesh is expected to become a self-sufficient country in food by 2013. But it seems it will be quite difficult for the country to achieve the desired goal within the deadline.
There are some other constraints in achieving self-sufficiency in food. The arable land has been shrinking by 0.6 per cent every year due to increasing needs for housing, industries and infrastructure. A sizeable land loss from river erosion also decreases our arable land. One-sixth of the lands may be submerged with salty water due to rising sea levels. The on-going climate change has made the monsoon more erratic raising risks in food production. The soil fertility has been declining due to unwise exploitation of its nutrients and imbalanced use of fertilisers. The ground water level has been going down, thus posing difficulties in irrigating crops like boro paddy. The potential for further increase in production is getting limited due to all these factors.
Besides, natural calamities remain a major threat to our food security. Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries in terms of natural calamity. It is reported that 2.0 metre rise in sea level can inundate almost 25 per cent of our land. Moreover, erratic monsoon, frequent floods and droughts will increase the risks for rain-fed rice farming. In this case, we need technology to adapt to climate change. The term 'food security' in Bangladesh has long been synonymous with achieving self-sufficiency in rice, the dominant staple food, in view of repeated experience of severe hunger and famine. It appears that even if Bangladesh achieves self-sufficiency in rice production or exports rice, the import of wheat or other food items will continue. The dependence of Bangladesh on the world market for pulses, edible oil, sugar and milk has been growing, along with wheat.
Despite all these drawbacks, Bangladesh did not have to import rice in the last two years. Although now the agriculture sector contributes to only 19.29 per cent of GDP (which was 50 per cent in 1975-76 fiscal year), production in agriculture has been increasing. Use of pesticides is decreasing and agricultural credit is also declining. Farmers are now using seeds of high-yielding varieties (HYV) and standardising irrigation equipment. About 82 per cent of cultivated area is now irrigated compared to 36 per cent in 1988.
All these efforts are boosting agricultural growth rate which now stands at more than 5.0 per cent which exceeds population growth rate. Notable progress has been achieved in the production of potatoes and other vegetables. The growth has been particularly impressive in the last decade.
No development is possible with an empty stomach. So, the government should not only focus on production of food but also on its availability at the level of the poor.
© 2024 - All Rights with The Financial Express
