Poor and food price

The World Bank has estimated that the recent rise in food prices has pushed four million people back into poverty. After the release of the report, a private channel arranged a talk-show on the WB disclosure. I was stunned when one of the discussants, a senior journalist, said he does not believe the World Bank figures. He, however, did not say who was right. brThe talk-show anchor rightly said our target is not to question the data, rather to say what steps can be taken to address the serious and on-going crisis. The government needs to make the affordability of food priority. This is now the number one agenda and also for the government that will come after the December election. brWe have shown that we can raise the food productivity. In the immediate past boro rice season, better and more timely supply of inputs such as fertilizer, diesel, and electricity as well as use of high-yielding varieties of seeds and more up-to-date crop management practices helped farmers to show the result. brBut only high productivity is not the solution to stem the price. As there were faults in the distribution mechanism the prices could not be lowedred. brIf the price of rice does not go down, we cannot expect to enjoy better food for the population. brKamal AhmedbrShantinagar, Dhaka