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Programme on Food Security With one-sixth of the humanity affected by the silent hunger crisis, the situation of the world food security is threatening the increasing population of the world. The number of hungry people could increase by a further 100 million in 2009 and pass the one billion mark, according to FAO estimates. Like many other developing countries, food security in Bangladesh is threatened by the global economic crisis and soaring price of essentials. 80 percent of the population of Bangladesh live in the rural areas, over half in absolute poverty. Factors related to climate change are aggravating the situation. Under the circumstances, we need to secure the right to food of the hungry poor, we need to forge a broad consensus on the total and rapid eradication of hunger in the country by focusing on rapid development of the agricultural sector. Unnayan Onneshan is planning to undertake programmes, like research works and seminars at regional and local levels in this context. Research Programmes: The organization conducting research works on the various aspects of food security including price hike and global economic crisis, climate change and agricultural biodiversity. Abstract of the research works are presented below. Agriculture biodiversity and food security: two sides of a coin Biodiversity underpins the agriculture productivity. Agricultural biodiversity includes all components of biodiversity – at genetic, species and ecosystem levels – that are relevant to food and agriculture and that support the ecosystems in which agriculture occurs. Therefore, its maintenance is essential for the production of food and other agricultural goods and the benefits these provide to humanity, including food security, nutrition and livelihoods. Recent worldwide food crisis has raised the issue of food security to an urgent basis. Many are arguing that worldwide economic meltdown might cause the crisis. However, others find a causal relationship between agriculture biodiversity loss and food shortage. The current study anchors on the issue of indiscriminate agriculture biodiversity loss and its impacts on food security. Bangladesh is considered as one of the fertile deltas in the world. Along with favourable climatic condition the country is also endowed with highly productive native crop varieties. Nevertheless, the study has showed that lack of proper use of agriculture biodiversity and practice of so called modern agriculture systems that are based on hybrid seeds, chemical fertilizers, and pesticides without paying much attention to the native varieties are responsible for recent food crisis in agrarian Bangladesh. Finally, the study suggests that replacing current mechanized agriculture production systems to sustainable production methods such as mixed farming systems, organic agriculture, integrated pest management, use of organic fertilizers, crop rotation, recycling crop and animal wastes, no-till or minimum tillage agriculture, inter or multi-cropping, use of cover crops would be viable options to attain food security for all. Effect of Increasing Temperature on Rice Production in Bangladesh: Implications for Food Security Climate change is posing threat to the food system. Every year a huge amount of crop is being damaged due to changing climatic state, and eventually threatening food security, particularly in the developing world. The study has been taken to explore the impact of rising temperature on rice production in Bangladesh. Rice is a staple food of Bangladesh. Hence, any loss of rice production aggravates the overall food security in Bangladesh. Based on IPCC Fourth Assessment Report 1.8 to 4°C temperature rise, using DSSAT model, the study finds that if the temperature will increase from the current condition to 1.93° C then the rice production will decrease by 5.4% in 2050. Therefore, the study suggests that without any delay research should be accelerated to produce temperature tolerate rice varieties to face the challenges the future climate impacts. Impact of Increasing Landlessness on Access to Food: Experience of Small and Marginal Farmers in Rural Bangladesh Small and marginal farmers are losing their productive land and becoming landless due to increasing population, unjust market intervention and poor governance. Moreover, climate induced hazards, such as recurring floods, cyclones, river bank erosion are also contributing to the increasing landlessness. The current study has been taken to explore the link between landlessness and access to food in rural Bangladesh. The study reveals that even though 75 percent food production comes from the rural areas, however due to landlessness and some associated factors, the small and marginal farmers in the rural areas are still deprived from their access to food. The study reveals the view of the small and marginal landless farmers on substantive actions necessary to achieve their access to food.
Environmental Displacement, Urban Poverty and Food Insecurity Environmental displacement is now increasingly being considered as urban disaster while cities are experiencing growing number of climate induced displaced people living in slums. Increased frequency and severity of natural disasters by climate change over the past recent years are not only displacing people physically but also exposing to enhanced poverty by threatening their livelihoods temporarily and permanently. Climate change threatens peoples’ access to food as they become socioeconomically susceptible. Displaced people living in urban slums are in search of better and secure life. But urban slums located mostly in low lying environmentally hazardous areas, coupled with inadequate facilities like food, shelter, sanitation, health care make their lives even worse. Growing number of people in urban slums over the recent past creates extra pressure on existing systems and present challenges to government development activities like slum development and poverty reduction strategy. This paper depicts the socioeconomic condition of slum dwellers and their consumption pattern, while it has been found that majority of them can’t afford nutritious food which is expensive for them. Planned migration and secured socioeconomic factors are suggested in this paper to lessen exposure to further poverty.
Dissemination Strategy The organization plans to arrange seminars at regional and national level to share views with the stakeholders on the issue of food security. Seminar Schedule Khulna: 2nd November, 2009 Chittagong: 5th November, 2009 Dhaka: 12th November, 2009. N.B: In case of any unexpected events the dates of the seminars may rescheduled. |