Meeting crisis on the food front
Monday, 3 December 2007
The price index of food grains has been on a steeply rising curve since long. The two floods in a row and finally the cyclone Sidr have together dealt the lasting blow to the prospect, if any, of improvement in the situation. Even before the cyclone, it was becoming growingly apparent that the hike in food grains price was not entirely cost-driven as was often being suggested. There was also a net gap between demand and supply and the gap has been widening. Naturally, the price hike has something to do with the quantity of food grains available in the country.
The recent press briefing of the Agriculture adviser has shed further light on the real situation at home. Though the actual stock of food grain should be 1.9 million tonnes under the Public Food Distribution System until March next year, the government depots have only 0.76 million tonnes. That means the shortage is to the tune of 1.17 million tons. However, the minister has assured that the government is going to plug the food gap for the current year created due to the natural calamities through import of 3.9 million tonnes of food grains both under the public and the private sectors.
The government will import additional 500,000 tonnes of rice, while another 500,000 tonnes of cereals will be provided by the donors as food aid. Understandably, such positive outlook has been the reason behind the government's assurance that there is no possibility of a famine situation in the country at the moment.
The import of the food grains are both a costly and time-consuming affair. It is worthwhile to note here that compared to the previous year, the government this year will have to pay an additional amount of Tk 200 million for each hundred thousand tonnes of imported rice, since the price of food grains has gone up in the international market. So, the question of availability of the of the food grains from the international market to meet the deficit aside, the cost factor is another critical issue the government will have to face in the present context. And all these inhibitive factors are converging at a time when the government is fighting an uneven war on the food front.
The government will have to meet the situation judiciously. For the more urgent issue before it will be to feed and rehabilitate the population dislodged from their home and hearth in the cyclone-devastated coastal districts of the country. At the same time, the farmers of the affected areas will also have to be provided with necessary agricultural inputs and financial assistance so that they may make the most of the boro season and other winter crops.
It is reassuring to learn against this backdrop that the donor community has pledged generous assistance and technical support in the government's food procurement drive. There is yet another piece of heartening news in this context. The visiting Indian foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee, while handing over relief materials for the cyclone victims to the government, has informed that his government will now allow export of up to 500,000 tonnes of food grains to Bangladesh. The goodwill the Indian foreign minister has thus brought with him from his government will contribute positively towards Bangladesh's ongoing efforts to meet the food gap in the wake of a series of natural disasters.
With all the figures about the food situation at hand, it should now become easier for the government, the donors and all others concerned to devise the right strategy to meet the deficit in stock as well as the demand-supply gap in order to avert any acute food crisis in the near future and also level off the spikes created artificially in the current food price index.
The recent press briefing of the Agriculture adviser has shed further light on the real situation at home. Though the actual stock of food grain should be 1.9 million tonnes under the Public Food Distribution System until March next year, the government depots have only 0.76 million tonnes. That means the shortage is to the tune of 1.17 million tons. However, the minister has assured that the government is going to plug the food gap for the current year created due to the natural calamities through import of 3.9 million tonnes of food grains both under the public and the private sectors.
The government will import additional 500,000 tonnes of rice, while another 500,000 tonnes of cereals will be provided by the donors as food aid. Understandably, such positive outlook has been the reason behind the government's assurance that there is no possibility of a famine situation in the country at the moment.
The import of the food grains are both a costly and time-consuming affair. It is worthwhile to note here that compared to the previous year, the government this year will have to pay an additional amount of Tk 200 million for each hundred thousand tonnes of imported rice, since the price of food grains has gone up in the international market. So, the question of availability of the of the food grains from the international market to meet the deficit aside, the cost factor is another critical issue the government will have to face in the present context. And all these inhibitive factors are converging at a time when the government is fighting an uneven war on the food front.
The government will have to meet the situation judiciously. For the more urgent issue before it will be to feed and rehabilitate the population dislodged from their home and hearth in the cyclone-devastated coastal districts of the country. At the same time, the farmers of the affected areas will also have to be provided with necessary agricultural inputs and financial assistance so that they may make the most of the boro season and other winter crops.
It is reassuring to learn against this backdrop that the donor community has pledged generous assistance and technical support in the government's food procurement drive. There is yet another piece of heartening news in this context. The visiting Indian foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee, while handing over relief materials for the cyclone victims to the government, has informed that his government will now allow export of up to 500,000 tonnes of food grains to Bangladesh. The goodwill the Indian foreign minister has thus brought with him from his government will contribute positively towards Bangladesh's ongoing efforts to meet the food gap in the wake of a series of natural disasters.
With all the figures about the food situation at hand, it should now become easier for the government, the donors and all others concerned to devise the right strategy to meet the deficit in stock as well as the demand-supply gap in order to avert any acute food crisis in the near future and also level off the spikes created artificially in the current food price index.