The two news items are apparently poles apart in their contents but in a global village, they are not altogether delinked. In Gaza, the Palestinians are victims of crime against humanity committed by the Israeli army. Israeli bombardment and other military operations have displaced about 75 per cent of 2.3 million inhabitants of Gaza, triggering an acute crisis of basic foods, water and medicine for survival. A study the World Food Programme (WFP) conducted between November 24 and December 7 last found that the entire population in the Palestinian territory was facing an acute level of food uncertainty.
Compared to the man-made developments in Gaza, the epicentre expanding its outposts of the Middle East with the Houthi's attacks of commercial ships on the Red Sea and the retaliation by the US and UK fighter jets on Houthi positions, the sapling and potato blight not limited to Nilphamari but in many parts of the country including the paddy producing hubs in the country's north and south, is a Nature-related phenomenon. It is more or less a local issue or at best, a national one.
However, to those who mean well to the country, this natural phenomenon has far wider implications and not quite isolated from the developments in the ME. True Bangladesh had a good Aman harvest before the hostile weather could cause much damage to the crop. But the country's main paddy crop is Boro and this is the peak time for sprouting of paddy saplings and their plantation in the prepared paddy field. But the cold wave and fog together are causing enormous harms to the paddy saplings and other vegetables including potato. This means Boro cultivation is going to face a setback on account of diseased saplings and also a lack of those in the severely affected areas. The fact is that saplings cannot be protected from fogs even with the covering of polythene or plastic sheets.
If cultivation of paddy suffers in this peak planting season, crop production is most likely to fall short of the target. This raises the question about the country's food security at a time when the multidimensional conflicts in the ME can severely disrupt the supply chains of energy and other essentials for which the country is solely dependent on import. Already, gas crisis has given rise to multifarious problems from household points to the industry level. If the war in the ME sucks in more parties, Bangladesh's precarious energy position will go from bad to worse and from worse to the worst. The country's forex reserve already under severe stress will hit rock bottom in such an ominous scenario.
What is important here is that climate change is not all about rise in temperature. It can trigger unusual weather patterns in different areas like the 'heat domes' as experienced in North America, parts of Canada included. The sustained fog is something of a climatic aberration in this part of the world too. Primarily the El Nino is responsible for similar unusual climatic changes. Boro cultivation has never before encountered such oddities of weather. Maybe, agricultural scientists will be required to develop fog-resistant, like saline water-resistant, varieties of paddy. Such are the challenges the country's agriculture may have to negotiate in the long run if it wants to avoid future threats to food security in Bangladesh.
In this context, it is worth noting that there has been a sort of agricultural revolution here not only concerning paddy but also other crops, vegetables and even fruits. Bangladesh can move ahead economically because agriculture has provided a strong platform for it to pay attention to commerce and industry. If agriculture suffers and the country is forced to import foods on a large scale for feeding its people, its progress will be seriously hampered.
Apart from this long-term concern, the immediate unease is no less grave. If the ME imbroglio gets further complicated, the country with its depleted energy sources and foreign reserve can hardly weather the adverse geopolitical regime. Much as the country may have demonstrated resilience in the face of adversities, this time the global fraternity is divided on so many issues ---not less on the country's internal politics and its choice of friends. In such a situation, Bangladesh has to get its priority right. It must be mindful to small details such as supply of Boro saplings to affected areas from other areas not so affected. Subsidised fuel for irrigation, fertiliser and other incentives for farmers can help save the day for growers of crops as well as the country.
nilratanhalder2000@yahoo.com