Ensuring the food security
Saturday, 12 December 2009
Amid the growing concern afresh over the surging prices of rice in the international market, it should be considered a good luck for Bangladesh for having reaped good major harvests of rice crops in succession in about last one and a half years. This has led to reduced import of food grains and also to abatement of price pressures. Relatively, the rice-price has remained stable. As it is, the country is now headed for another bumper aman crop. All such developments have led to a sense of food security in the country. This could make governmental authorities feel somewhat comfortable about planning for sustainable food security.
But that may also become the point of worry. The hard toil of farmers as well as reasonably efficient delivery of inputs to them from official policies, plus the all too important favourable weather conditions, have helped in the good production of foodgrains. But this trend may not remain sustainable even in the mid-term from any unkind swing in weather conditions. Bangladesh only has to look back about two years when per tonne price of imported rice shot up to US$ 1,000 in the backdrop of a serious deficit situation of rice in the local markets caused by failures in production-- locally-- from storms, other climatic factors and man-made problems. These memories ought not to be lost and should only keep the policy planners strongly committed to keep food grain production on the higher side.
Already, signs are showing up that if for any reason Bangladesh is needed to import food on a large scale, that could push it towards a great financial drain. Even it might become very difficult for it to import such grain at affordable price amid relative scarcity. Traditionally, India is the biggest or main supplier of rice to Bangladesh. But India has declared a ban on its export as a consequence of suffering a very bad and long drought that caused production to dwindle down in that country. Furthermore, it has taken steps to rather import rice for the first time in many years. The Philippine government has also called international tender for supply of more than half a million tonnes of rice. Both countries are lining up imports sensing local shortfall. In this situation, rice prices have started creeping up probably towards the not seen since the last super-spike. According to available data, global rice production is set to fall in 2009-10 for the fist time in five years. This is because of India's driest monsoon in four decades, a series of typhoons destroying crops in the Philippines and droughts elsewhere because of El Niño weather phenomenon.
In this backdrop, Bangladesh needs to be very watchful about these developments to hedge itself from any food availability related shocks. The imperative for it is to ensure its food security in the short, medium and longer terms. The coming Boro rice growing season has arrived and this crop produces nearly 60 per cent of the annual consumption. According to media reports, farmers have readied seed beds for sowing the Boro seeds in about 4.8 million hectares of land. But the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) is failing to provide seeds in the demanded quantities to them. Even black marketing of seeds was alleged. The authorities who should be concerned, need to take immediate measures to help the farmers to overcome this problem. For the mid term, the supply of all indispensable agro-inputs to farmers will have to be absolutely ensured without any snags on a sustainable basis to maintain the trend towards higher production. Operating efficient price supports and incentives to farmers will be crucial to keep them motivated to produce in greater quantities. Government's storage capacities need to be doubled to at least keep three million tonnes of food grains stored to face up to any adverse situation. The establishment of the needed storage capacity will have to be completed in the mid term, if not earlier.
But that may also become the point of worry. The hard toil of farmers as well as reasonably efficient delivery of inputs to them from official policies, plus the all too important favourable weather conditions, have helped in the good production of foodgrains. But this trend may not remain sustainable even in the mid-term from any unkind swing in weather conditions. Bangladesh only has to look back about two years when per tonne price of imported rice shot up to US$ 1,000 in the backdrop of a serious deficit situation of rice in the local markets caused by failures in production-- locally-- from storms, other climatic factors and man-made problems. These memories ought not to be lost and should only keep the policy planners strongly committed to keep food grain production on the higher side.
Already, signs are showing up that if for any reason Bangladesh is needed to import food on a large scale, that could push it towards a great financial drain. Even it might become very difficult for it to import such grain at affordable price amid relative scarcity. Traditionally, India is the biggest or main supplier of rice to Bangladesh. But India has declared a ban on its export as a consequence of suffering a very bad and long drought that caused production to dwindle down in that country. Furthermore, it has taken steps to rather import rice for the first time in many years. The Philippine government has also called international tender for supply of more than half a million tonnes of rice. Both countries are lining up imports sensing local shortfall. In this situation, rice prices have started creeping up probably towards the not seen since the last super-spike. According to available data, global rice production is set to fall in 2009-10 for the fist time in five years. This is because of India's driest monsoon in four decades, a series of typhoons destroying crops in the Philippines and droughts elsewhere because of El Niño weather phenomenon.
In this backdrop, Bangladesh needs to be very watchful about these developments to hedge itself from any food availability related shocks. The imperative for it is to ensure its food security in the short, medium and longer terms. The coming Boro rice growing season has arrived and this crop produces nearly 60 per cent of the annual consumption. According to media reports, farmers have readied seed beds for sowing the Boro seeds in about 4.8 million hectares of land. But the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) is failing to provide seeds in the demanded quantities to them. Even black marketing of seeds was alleged. The authorities who should be concerned, need to take immediate measures to help the farmers to overcome this problem. For the mid term, the supply of all indispensable agro-inputs to farmers will have to be absolutely ensured without any snags on a sustainable basis to maintain the trend towards higher production. Operating efficient price supports and incentives to farmers will be crucial to keep them motivated to produce in greater quantities. Government's storage capacities need to be doubled to at least keep three million tonnes of food grains stored to face up to any adverse situation. The establishment of the needed storage capacity will have to be completed in the mid term, if not earlier.