In the past decade, Bangladesh has gained global acclaim for its remarkable strides in agricultural production, achieving food self-sufficiency, and ensuring sustainable food security. Despite these achievements, the government’s efforts to ensure food safety and nutrition face obstacles from a group of traders who unjustly raise food prices, leading to potential nutritional deprivation for consumers.
Over the last decade, Bangladesh has overcome seasonal starvation in the northern region through strategic policy reforms, interventions, and investments in agricultural research. The green revolution, fueled by high-yielding crop varieties, improved irrigation, efficient market institutions, and agricultural mechanization, has transformed the landscape.
You can also read: Bangladesh: Asia’s Rising Energy Dynamo!
Acknowledging Bangladesh’s outstanding achievements in food security, the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) was honored with the “Foodfluencer of the Year” award by the US Soybean Export Council (USSEC) in 2023. This prestigious award recognizes organizations or individuals contributing significantly to food and nutrition security in South Asia.
BARI’s Role in Meeting Nutrition Demand
The Constitution of Bangladesh mentions ‘food security for all’ as one of the fundamental rights of the citizens. The Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute under the Ministry of Agriculture pioneers in ensuring food security in the country. BARI, the largest multi-crop research institute in the country, conducts multifaceted research on 211 crops, including rice, pulses, oilseeds, vegetables, fruits, spices, and flowers. So far, the scientists of BARI have developed 650 crop varieties and 640 technologies with the policy support of the government.
Crop Varieties Developed by BARI
| Crop | Number of varieties |
| Pulses | 142 |
| Vegetables | 136 |
| Fruits | 101 |
| Spices | 55 |
| Oilseeds | 54 |
| Flowers | 25 |
| Seaweed and others | 10 |
The 640 agricultural technologies developed by BARI are playing an important role in increasing crop productivity and overall production.
Agricultural Technologies Developed by BARI
| Kind of Technology | Number of Technology |
| Crop, soil, water, and pest management | 288 |
| Farming systems research | 196 |
| Farm machinery | 150 |
| Irrigation and water management | 38 |
| Post-harvest machine | 34 |
| Biotechnology | 30 |
| Food safety | 4 |
The amount of vegetables in people’s diet is increasing day by day. Bangladesh ranks third in the world in terms of vegetable production and occupies first place in expanding the area of vegetable cultivation. According to the agricultural ministry, the total cultivated area of vegetables in the country was 50,000 hectares in 1972, which increased to 4.7 lakh hectares in 2022. In 1972, the total production of vegetables was 6 lakh tons which increased to 213.2 lakh tons in 2022.
Development of Vegetable cultivation
| Year | Arable land | Production | Per Capita Intake |
| 1972 | 50,000 hectares | 6 lakh tons | 28 grams |
| 2022 | 4.7 lakh hectares | 213.2 lakh tons | 202 grams |
According to the government’s Household Income and Expenditure Survey, the daily per capita consumption of vegetables was only 28 grams in 1972, which went up to 202 grams in 2022. Fruits also play an important role in ensuring nutritional security. BARI has so far developed 97 varieties of 38 types of fruits.
The role of oilseed crops is important to ensure nutritional security and reduce import dependency. The oilseed crops produced in the country meet only 12% of the total demand. The rest of the demand is met through imports. Therefore, the government emphasizes increasing domestic production to 40% of the demand. BARI researches increasing the production of mustard, sesame, linseed, sunflower, almond, soybean, safflower.
Field Level Adoption of BARI’s Oilseed Varieties
| Variety | Percentage |
| Mustard | 76% |
| Soybean | 80% |
| Groundnut | 67% |
According to a study by the Agricultural Economics Department of BARI, the field-level adoption of BARI-developed mustard varieties is 76%, soybean 80%, and groundnut 67%. Among the mega varieties of mustard developed by the institute, Bari Sarisha-14, Bari Sarisha-17, and Bari Sarisha-18 have gained huge popularity across the country. These varieties of mustard have 40%-42% percent oil.
The role of pulses in ensuring the nutritional security of the population is also significant. Pulse is cultivated on 2.38% of the total arable lands in the country, meeting 40% of the country’s demand.
Market Syndicate hinders Food Security
It should be mentioned that the efforts and achievements of the government in ensuring food safety and nutrition are often hampered by a vested group of traders who abnormally hike the price of different food items. Due to the monopoly pricing by the syndicate of unscrupulous traders, the consumers are often deprived of the required nutrition.
The country’s rice market suddenly became volatile after the election held on January 7, although Aman paddy was harvested only a month ago.
During the last two weeks, the price of rice has increased by Tk 4-6 per kg depending on the variety. Retailers and wholesalers are blaming the rice mill owners for the price hike while the millers are blaming the corporates for buying and hoarding high-priced rice. In such a situation, the newly appointed food minister and the state minister for commerce are taking various steps to control the volatile market.
Rice Prices Increase in five phases
According to various media reports, rice prices have been increased through manipulation in five phases, as the staple food reaches the consumer level from the farmer level.
The middleman who buys the rice from the farmer started the manipulation by buying at a low price. At times, middlemen buy the rice fields from the farmers in advance while some of them buy paddy by trapping farmers by providing loans.
The middlemen sell the rice to the mill owners making an additional profit. The millers sell the rice to those who stockpile rice on a large scale. From there, rice changes hands and goes to wholesalers, increasing the price further. The retailers buy the rice from the wholesalers and sell it to the consumers at a higher price. In this way, the price of one kg of rice increases by Tk 20 to Tk 25 step by step.
In addition, there are allegations of manipulation against some of the country’s major industrial companies involved in the rice business. They also buy paddy directly from farmers. Some of them buy a large area of land and cultivate rice there. There are also allegations of hoarding rice against the corporate companies. It is alleged that they increase the price through stockpiling rice.
Strict Warnings against Rice Hoarders
Meanwhile, Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder and Commerce State Minister Ahsanul Islam are keeping a close eye on the rice hoarders and have given strict warnings. The food minister has warned the illegal hoarders of appropriate punishment. “Those who have stocked rice will not be spared. As the hoarders increased the price of rice in four days, they have to reduce it within four days,” he said.
Several government agencies have become active in controlling the rice market as well as finding out the reason behind the sudden hike in prices. The Food Minister said, “A control room has been set up to monitor the market. Our drives are going on. Whoever is found with an illegal stock of rice will be brought under the law.”
State Minister for Commerce Ahsanul Islam said, “Our war is against hoarders. The government will be strict against those who hoard products unfairly for the sake of high profits.”
However, the warnings of the ministers failed to bring down the rice prices as the unscrupulous businessmen and middlemen who have created the artificial crisis are yet to come back to their senses. Meanwhile, consumers from low-income groups and farmers are suffering immensely.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be said that Bangladesh over the years has made remarkable achievements in ensuring food security for the countrymen, but the country’s success often stumbles due to the obstacles posed by the price hike of essential food items by the syndicate of traders. If the government can successfully tackle the monopoly pricing of the syndicates, the country’s food security situation obviously will reach a higher and highly satisfactory level.
