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The Daily New Age, 05 September 2007
Khawaza Main Uddin
The country’s striving for food security and poverty reduction may falter as a consequence of ‘diminishing marginal return’ from farming and limited livelihood opportunities the poor get in agriculture.
Apart from expressing that apprehension, a UN-government joint report also has named a number of factors such as seasonality in food production, food price instability, social and household inequalities including gender disparity, natural and man-made disasters, and poor sanitation behind continued poverty and hunger.
‘Given the finite amount of land and a still-growing population, land use and crop intensity are approaching a maximum [level], severely limiting the ability of many poor people to earn a livelihood from farming,’ said the recently published ‘Meeting the Challenge: A Mid-term Report on Achieving MDG-1 in Bangladesh’.
The report finds ‘deteriorating terms of trade’ for farmers owing to high input prices and an imperfect market structure dominated by middlemen causing decrease in agriculture’s contribution to the gross domestic product, despite manifold increases in farm output.
The share of agriculture in GDP, as mentioned in the report, declined from 30.4 per cent in 1991 to 20.1 in 2005. The sector still employs more than 50 per cent of the country’s labour force.
The report stresses the need for new investments and innovations in the agriculture sector to boost productivity for removing hunger and poverty as well as promotion of new thrust sectors to sustain the progress so far achieved towards the first UN Millennium Development Goal of halving poverty by 2015.
Bangladesh has reduced the percentage of people living below the poverty line, or the daily income of $1, from 58.8 in 1991 to 40 while the national target in conformity with the UN goal is to bring it down to 29.4.
According to the report, faltering economic performance, growing population density, climate change, and exclusion from demographic and social changes are among the major reasons for the concern that the current rate of progress in reducing extreme poverty may not be sustained.
‘The extreme poor rely on government social protection programmes, family support or charity to survive,’ the report says, adding that no more than 10 per cent people eligible for government assistance receive it.
Another formidable challenge to Bangladesh’s poverty reduction efforts is said to be the adverse consequence of the global warming since one-fifth of the country’s landmass may go under water, if the sea level rises by just one metre, causing massive displacements and reducing rice production by around 30 per cent.
The report further acknowledges that poverty continues to prevent many children from the poorest and vulnerable groups from accessing ‘free’ education opportunities due to ‘many direct costs involved.’
It points out that temporary labour migration — primarily to Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries —also has contributed significantly to increasing household income and reducing poverty. ‘Any adverse shock — global, political or economic instability — could seriously undermine the gains in poverty reduction,’ it warns.
The foreign affairs adviser, Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, presented the executive summary of the report at the annual ministerial review meeting of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations on ‘Strengthening efforts to eradicate poverty and hunger, including through the global partnership for development’ in Geneva in July. Its in-depth version was published recently by the United Nations Development Programme.
Iftekhar quoted the Johannesburg Declaration of World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002 as saying that the countries of origin of temporary labour migration such as Bangladesh would enjoy a return of $160 to $200 billion if the European Union, Canada, Japan, and the United States allowed migrants to make up 4 per cent of their labour force.
Staff Correspondent, The Daily Star, 09 May 2008
Politicians and civil society members yesterday urged the caretaker government to immediately introduce rationing system for providing lower and lower-middle class people with rice and other essentials at low price.
At a citizens’ dialogue, they also suggested that the government increase investment and subsidy in agriculture to ensure food security in the country.
Only an elected democratic government can control the skyrocketing price hike of essentials, the speakers said at the dialogue styled “Stop price hike, save people”. They also called upon all political parties to incorporate the issue of food security into their election manifesto.
People’s Forum on MDG and Campaign for Popular Education (Campe) jointly organised the dialogue at the Jatiya Press Club yesterday.
Awami League Presidium member Suranjit Sengupta said rice production and people’s purchasing capacity will have to be increased to control the prices of essentials.
“The country has to be self-sufficient in producing rice and other essentials. And for this, investment and subsidy in agriculture will have to be increased,” Suranjit said, adding, “All of these can be possible when an elected democratic government comes to power after the next general election.”
BNP leader and former state minister MA Mannan said the government should pay more attention to the agriculture sector, especially for increasing subsidy and investment.
Workers Party polit bureau member Hyder Akbar Khan Rono said rationing system should be immediately introduced for general people. “A long-term and effective planning is needed for increasing rice production and ensuring food security,” he said.
Shishir Shil, executive director of People Empower Trust and member of the steering committee of People’s Forum on MDG, said an inter-ministry task force for agriculture, food, fisheries, commerce, local government, land, law and science and technology will have to be formed to keep the price hike within people’s buying capacity.
Ataur Rahman Miton of Hunger Free World, Shirin Akhter of Karmajibi Nari, political leaders Shahiduzzaman, Dr Abdur Razzaque, Abdus Shahid and SK Shahidul Islam, among others, addressed the dialogue presided over by Campe Director-in-charge Azizul Haq.
Staff Correspondent, Bogra, The Daily Star, 13 May 2008
The government will import rice from neighbouring India despite bumper Boro production in the country this season, said Food and Disaster Management Adviser Dr AMM Shawkat Ali.
“If necessary, the government will procure rice beyond the target in this Boro season,” he told journalists while answering to questions at a meeting on Boro paddy procurement and food situation at Bogra Circuit House yesterday.
The adviser said though price of rice have increased in the international markets, Bangladesh is importing rice from India at $430 per metric tonnes as per contract.
He also said steps have been taken to use the godowns of Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) to meet the space crisis in godowns.
Responding to the observations of rice mill owners and businessmen that they face problems for power cuts, the adviser said government has already taken measures to ensure uninterrupted power supply for rice mills.
Bogra Deputy Commissioner Humayun Kabir presided over the meeting while Divisional Commissioner Hafizur Rahman Bhuiyan, Bogra District Rice Mill Owners Association President Aminul Haque spoke.
Staff Correspondent, The Daily Star, 16 May 2008
The government will procure one lakh tonne of wheat from the international market at about Tk 32 per kilogram (kg) after failing to buy the grain locally as its market price is higher than the government-fixed price.
The advisory committee on purchase at a meeting yesterday approved the procurement proposal of the food ministry.
The government had earlier set a target of procuring 50,000 tonnes of wheat from local market this season fixing the purchase price at Tk 26 per kg.
Food ministry officials, however, said they could not buy any wheat from local market as the market price was higher than the price the government fixed for wheat procurement, adding that the deadline for the procurement is about to end.
The proposal placed by the food ministry said 70,000 tonnes of wheat would be imported at $ 446 per tonne (Tk 31.22 per kg) through the Chittagong port.
The rest will be imported at $456 per tonne (Tk 31.92 per kg) through the Mongla port.
Finance Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam, who presided over the meeting, told journalists that purchase of wheat at high prices from the international market will not have any adverse impact on the prices of the grain in local market, rather it would help boost wheat supply in the market.
“The market price will be high if the government itself fixes a high price for procurement,” he added.
The committee also approved another proposal placed by the communications ministry for appointing a consultant for its Dhaka-Chittagong Highway four-lane conversion project.
Bss, Dhaka, The Daily Star, 20 May 2008
The government has decided to build a number of new food godowns up to upazila levels across the country spending more than Tk 350 crore in next three years, Food and Disaster Management Adviser Dr AMM Shawkat Ali said yesterday.
“The warehouses will be built under a government project which aims at increasing food stock capacity in the public sector,” he said during his visits to Mymensingh and Netrakona as part of reinvigorating the public sector cereal procurement drive in the districts.
Shawkat Ali said the food storage capacity in the public sector would be increased by two to three lakh metric tonnes after construction of the new food depots at the local levels. The government can now store an average 15-lakh metric tonnes of food in 652 local storage depots (LSD) and central storage depots (CSD).
“The prime objective of the project is to ensure food security in an emergency or any crisis,” Shawkat told journalists, adding steps would be taken to resist millers’ design for hoarding to create artificial crisis.
Expressing his optimism about the success of the ongoing food procurement drive, the adviser said a total of 1.79 crore metric tonnes of rice is expected to be procured from this year’s bumper boro crops. The government would buy crops in line with the market price of paddy and rice, he added.
Millers in Netrakona and Mymensingh requested the adviser to ensure uninterrupted power supply between 7:00am and 5:00pm for rice husking. The adviser assured them of looking into the matter and said directives have already been made to this effect.
The food adviser shared opinions with a cross section of people, including mill owners, farmers, businessmen, food officials and journalists, to know about the pros and cons of the ongoing food procurement drive that ends in August.
Staff Correspondent, The Daily Star, 07 June 2008
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Citing administrative reasons, the BDR authorities fix a notice to a bamboo pole of a fair price outlet on Dhanmondi ground, saying it would remain closed until June 9. The prices of rice would go up when the outlets reopen. Photo: STAR |
Many people of low-income group yesterday returned home empty-handed after finding the BDR-run fair price outlets closed in the capital as the BDR authorities decided to keep them shut for four days from June 6.
There was no noticeable impact of the closure on the rice market on the first day yesterday as prices of most varieties remained almost unchanged.
Meanwhile, the prices of edible oil and baby milk powder shot up in the last week while the price of flour came down in the city’s kitchen markets.
A large number of people who were unaware of the four-day closure of the BDR-run outlets thronged the fair price outlets to buy essentials. They returned home empty-handed after seeing the closure notice at the outlets.
Rafiq Uddin, a forth class employee of the Dhaka University, said he along with his two children comes to the Indira road BDR-run outlet every Friday to purchase rice.
“I did not know that the BDR would keep its outlets closed for four days. Here I saw a closure notice in front of the outlet,” he said.
Rafiq Uddin also said he is unaware of the price hike of essentials at the BDR outlets.
Meanwhile, the prices of non-brand super palm and palm oil rose by Tk 30 a maund in the wholesale market in the last three days while price of soya bean oil increased by Tk 10, said Moulvibazar oil market sources.
The price of super palm oil rose to Tk 3,700-3,710 from Tk 3670 per maund while the palm oil price leapt to Tk 3600-3610 from Tk 3570 per maund.
Palm oil was sold for Tk 98-1,00 per kg in retail market yesterday while the price of super palm oil was Tk 102-105 per kg. Soya bean oil was sold at Tk 110-112 per kg yesterday.
The price of a 1-kg container of Lactogen-1 powder milk increased to Tk 835.00 yesterday from Tk 800.00.
The prices of powder milk of other brands have also gone up, sources said.
Prices of 2-kg pack atta and flour came down by Tk 2. Each pack of atta was sold at Tk 78-82 while flour was sold for Tk 84-90 a pack in the retail market. It was sold at Tk 86-92 a week
Rejaul Karim Byron, The Daily Star, 20 May 2008
The government will import five lakh tonnes of fertiliser from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia and Qatar under state arrangement to ease fertiliser crisis and boost rice production in the next fiscal year.
A high-level committee led by the industries secretary has already held talks with the authorities concerned paying visit to the three countries.
The proposal for importing urea may be placed before the Advisory Committee on Economic Affairs today.
The three countries have already sent draft contract letters to Bangladesh authorities following discussions between the committee and the authorities concerned.
Qatar Fertiliser Company, QAFCO, has already informed Bangladesh that it can export two lakh tonnes of urea as per the proposal prepared by the industries ministry. Qatar has also expressed its interest to export more urea, if necessary.
The UAE in principle has also agreed to export 80,000 to 1 lakh tonne of urea while Saudi Arabia has consented to export one lakh tonne.
Industries ministry officials said the government would set an import target of five lakh tonnes of urea while signing the final agreement.
“The fertiliser prices are going up in the international market. Urea was sold at $769 to $784 a tonne last month, while it was $408 last year. Therefore, the industries ministry asked the government to make a quick decision on fertiliser import,” said a ministry official.
The three countries have asked Bangladesh to inform them of its decision quickly, he said, adding that otherwise they might export the fertiliser to other countries.
The industries ministry in its proposal said although the Public Procurement Regulations-2003 will be violated through the import of fertiliser at the state-level, it is important to approve the proposal considering the government’s high priority on agriculture and food crisis in the country.
Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed in February instructed the industries ministry to make necessary preparation for dealing with any possible fertiliser crisis in the country, sources in the industries ministry said.
Following the chief adviser’s instructions, an inter-ministerial meeting in April this year set the demand for urea at 28.5 lakh tonnes for the next fiscal year.
Of this, Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) will produce 17 lakh tonnes of urea, while the government will purchase five lakh tonnes from Karnaphuli Fertiliser Company and import seven lakh tonnes.
Staff Correspondent, The Daily Star, 21 May 2008
The government yesterday exempted from the Public Procurement Regulations fertiliser import from three countries for direct import under a state-to-state arrangement to ease fertiliser crisis and boost rice production in the next fiscal year.
“Nowadays it has become very difficult to purchase fertiliser and our last year’s experience is that we did not even get response from traders after floating tenders,” Finance Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam said.
“That is why, we have initiated the process to import fertiliser under the state-to-state arrangement,” he told reporters after a meeting of the advisory committee on economic affairs.
Following the advisory committee’s consent, the industries ministry will begin the process to import 5 lakh tonnes of fertiliser from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia and Qatar without floating international tenders.
The Qatar Fertiliser Company has already informed Bangladesh that it can export 2 lakh tonnes of urea as per the proposal of the industries ministry. Qatar has also expressed interest to export more urea, if necessary.
The UAE has also agreed in principle to export 80,000 to 1 lakh tonnes of urea while Saudi Arabia has consented to export 1 lakh tonne.
Industries ministry officials said the government would set an import target of 5 lakh tonnes of urea while signing the final agreement.
An inter-ministerial meeting last month set the urea demand for the next fiscal year at 28.5 lakh tonnes.
Of this, Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) will produce 17 lakh tonnes while the government will purchase 5 lakh tonnes from the Karnaphuli Fertiliser Company and import 6.5 lakh tonnes.
Star Report, The Daily Star, 14 December 2007
The government looks to produce an additional 7.5 lakh metric tons of rice by growing high-yield varieties over 10 lakh hectares of land to cover an estimated 14 lakh tons of shortfall caused by back-to-back natural disasters this year.
Agriculture and Environment Adviser CS Karim spoke of the plan at a view-exchange meeting at The Daily Star office yesterday. He also said the government would work in unison with the NGOs to provide the affected farmers with agricultural implements, seeds and fertiliser.
Karim observed that the country needs to invest in agricultural research to meet the challenge of securing increased crop yields in the coming years and also to adapt to climate change.
Explaining the government plans to make good the shortage in rice production–8 lakh tons due to floods and 6 lakh tons for cyclone Sidr–he said the government has decided to plant high-yield hybrid Boro over 10 lakh hectares instead of 2.5 lakh hectares.
Asked about demand for the government to give tillage equipment to the farmers in Sidr-hit areas, the adviser said this was done after the 1991 cyclone too, but most of the tools ended up being in the hands of corrupt officials.
This time the government would work with the NGOs so that there is little room for corruption in distribution of tools, seeds and fertiliser and disbursement of agri-loans.
On rehabilitation efforts, Karim said alongside working to meet the immediate relief needs, the government is trying to help the victims ‘build back better livelihoods’.
He said it is important to build improved and more adaptable livelihoods, such as building more durable fishing trawlers.
He also said the government is still trying to figure out a way to ensure that farmers reap the benefits of the Tk 700 crore budgetary allocation in diesel subsidies.
Karim said the Sundarbans had served as a ‘natural buffer’ for the rest of Bangladesh against the November 15 storm. It has been playing the role for centuries. “We should leave the Sundarbans alone and let it grow on its own. Our interference would only destroy its biodiversity,” he observed.
He warned that the country’s long-term agricultural production outlook appears grim as every year it loses 1 percent of its cultivable land. However, the government has adopted a ‘vertical cultivation’ strategy focusing on planting high-yield hybrid plants. The grains shortage would still remain though, he added.
On fertiliser crisis, he said the agriculture ministry is trying to cut out the middlemen, but farmers’ overuse of fertiliser bought at a cheap subsidised price has made it difficult.
The adviser said Bangladesh would have to bear the brunt of climate change despite having an emission rate as low as 280 kilograms of carbon dioxide per person. In the developed countries, the rate is 20 tons.
He said that cyclones like Sidr will be more frequent because of global warming and “what’s coming next is horrendous and will be devastating for the country.”
“Inaction is not an option for us. We must act now,” he said, as extreme droughts and rainfall patterns would completely change agricultural production realities and threaten the country’s biodiversity.
He said some estimates put the amount of agricultural land loss at 17 percent due to climate change, while the country’s already high population density could shoot up to 2000 people per square kilometre for mass displacement.
Karim warned that poverty alleviation would be pushed back decades as food and housing security is expected to worsen as a result of climate change.
In this context, he said, the country is in dire need of adaptation technologies and transfer of clean technologies from overseas.
“We definitely need financial help. We are not going to beg for the money and there is no legal basis for compensation. But, it is the moral obligation of polluting countries to pay for Bangladesh’s adaptation efforts,” he said.
Curbing emissions of greenhouse gases is a must if they are to minimise the effects of global warming on Bangladesh.
Karim said Bangladesh has to lead with more local research focused on the country’s adaptation needs, for which an International Centre for Climate Change Adaptation has been proposed.
The adviser, a physicist by training, also said that the World Trade Organisation’s Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights need to be modified to be more conducive to transfer of clean technologies to poorer nations.
Obaidul Ghani, The Daily New Age, 17 May 2008
The boro procurement is yet to gain pace because of a large gap between the price of rice on the market and the price set by the government, market sources said.
Frequent power outages are also hampering the regular supply of rice by millers and the early fixation of the price by the government has contributed to the price gap, rice suppliers and market sources said on Friday.
Most farmers are reluctant to sell their rice immediately after harvest thinking that the price might go up further when the government will begin procurement drive in full swing, they said.
Sources said the government was mounting pressure on the millers to increase the supply of rice, but the millers were unable to buy rice for the price set by the government.
Paddy now sells for Tk 850 a maund (37.33kg), but the government has set the rate at Tk 720, they said.
The government in the first-phase procurement ending on May 15 has been able to procure 35,360 tonnes of rice against the target of 2,75,750 tonnes.
Paddy procurement in the period was only 6,190 tonnes, but about 70 per cent of the boro has been harvested, said officials at the Department of Agricultural Extension.
It is unlikely for the government to fulfil the boro procurement target in time and is likely to extend the period, said Mohammad Habib, a rice supplier in Kushtia.
The government needs to increase the procurement price; it will, otherwise, be impossible for the government to control the market, said BRAC’s executive director Mahbub Hossain.
The government at any cost needs to increase the local procurement by at least 15 to 20 lakh tonnes to control the local market as the rice price on the international market is around $900 a tonne, he said.
According to statistics of the food department, the procurement in the Dhaka division till Thursday was 9,500 tonnes or rice against the target of 50,000 tonnes.
Only about 19,000 tonnes out of targeted 2,08,000 tonnes rice were collected from the Rajshahi division and the procurement in the Khulna division stood at 6,000 tonnes against the target of 15,000 tonnes.
In Chittagong, about 800 tonnes were collected against the target of 2,200 tonnes, and in Sylhet only 60 tonnes against the target of 550 tonnes.
The total procurement of paddy was 6,190 tonnes together from the Dhaka, Rajshahi, Khulna, Chittagong, Barisal and Sylhet divisions, said sources in the food department.
The boro procurement in 2008 began on April 16 and it will continue till August 31, and the price of a kilogram of rice has been set at Tk 28 and of paddy at Tk 18.
In 2007, the government procured 7,10,000 tonnes of rice and 6,500 tonnes of paddy against the target of 10 lakh tonnes rice and 3 lakh tonnes paddy at the price of Tk 18 a kilogram of rice and Tk 11.25 of paddy.
