NOBODY knows for certain at this stage about the extent of food deficit that the country will be facing this fiscal, in the aftermath of two successive floods and the devastating cyclone, SIDR. But there is no denying that the deficit will be quite large far exceeding the original projected amount.
The damage caused to the domestic food crop sector by the natural calamities would be substantial. Some production loss would, perhaps, be recouped during the coming Boro season, depending on timely availability of key agricultural inputs like fertiliser, irrigation supports, credits etc., in sufficient quantities at the farmers level.
The northern districts of the country which were subject to flooding twice will have better prospects for boosting Boro output. But the areas in the south western coastal belt which have recently been battered by SIDR do not enjoy much advantage, because of natural endowment factors, to raise Boro cultivation much. As such, the damage to transplant Aman in those coastal districts will be difficult to recover this year.
Under such circumstances, situation about the availability of food grain from domestic production to meet the supply shortfall remains not promising. The government will require to take appropriate steps right at this stage for arranging supplies through imports to help avert any major problem. It is a difficult time as the global food grain market is already under strains. Prices have gone up and supplies are not adequate. Some food grain exporting countries are themselves facing a supply shortage this year. In this context, the government has rightly made an appeal to the donor countries to consider, on an urgent basis, supplying food grain to Bangladesh in view of the extent of loss that the country has faced because of the natural calamities. Donor assistance in kind will be of immense help at this time. We would all hope that the donor community will respond favourably to the request of the government.
Meanwhile, ensuring food security to the distressed people will depend not only on the availability of food grain but also on the access to food. Most people in the disaster-hit areas do not have the purchasing power. For them, the access to food is the critical challenge. The government will have to gear up its efforts through appropriate intervention programmes for ensuring the access to food to them. The expanded vulnerable group feeding (VGF) programme, test relief (TR) and other related interventions through public distribution system will be critical for the purpose. The government has already announced that it will go for such operations. It has to implement them effectively now without any loss of time so that the target group of the population get immediately the benefits of the same.
Abdus Sakler
Jahangirnagar University,
Savar, Dhaka.
Food management in the wake of natural disasters
FE Team | Published: November 30, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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