Feeding a country of 17 million people where more than 1,252 people live per square kilometer is certainly a challenging task for the government. The government of Bangladesh has handled the challenge with great success by making the country self sufficient in food production. Gone are the days when hunger was unbearable as food supply was scarce. Over the last few years Bangladesh has been maintaining steady progress in food production. Recently Bangladesh has reduced hunger by a significant margin and ranked above neighboring India and Pakistan. Reportedly, the country has moved two notches up to 88th spot among 117 countries in the 2019 Global Hunger Index (GHI).
In order to ensure food security
focus should be given on
post-harvest losses of crops
Considered a lower-middle-income country – Bangladesh experienced rapid GDP growth in the past years. Country’s poverty rate went down from 34.8 percent to 14.8 percent. Since 2016, the Bangladeshi economy has been facing formidable challenges, including the influx of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, of whom nearly 900,000 are now in Bangladesh. Because of the low-lying coastal landmass, it is also considered one of the world’s most vulnerable countries to climate change and rising sea levels. Despite all the above challenges, poverty has declined in rural households involved mainly in industry or services rather than in agriculture.
But because of the impact of climate change our food security may become vulnerable in near future. In this regard necessary steps should be taken to sustain food security with proactive policy and climate resilient technology. In order to ensure food security focus should be given on post-harvest losses of crops. Bangladesh incurs the highest post-harvest losses in the world. With the increasing population and rapid income growth the demand for high quality food is on the rise. In this regard, it is time to address market oriented production system and modern supply chain approach very efficiently.
