Md Bayazid Khan :
Because of recent lockdown due to the disastrous pandemic, country’s overall economy was stalemated and government’s main concern was to feed its poor and poverty stricken citizens. As significant number of population is engaged in informal sectors, therefore they were at stake to survive due to loosing the means of livelihood.
The pandemic induced mass unemployment and the resulting income loss also worsens purchasing ability on buying foods. Supply side of foods also disrupted regarding production, import and maintain smooth flow of foods to consumers due to lockdown. The country successfully managed the mismatch between demand and supply side of foods during the pandemic by providing poor people with food at free or minimum cost as it had sufficient foods.
During pandemic Bangladesh also hit by super cyclone “Amphan” and floods. Natural calamities hit almost every year that cause great havoc on agrarian production. Nevertheless, scarcity of food and uncomfortable price hike of foods was not found anywhere during aforesaid crisis. Food security saved the government from facing wails of starving peoples. So, pandemic and natural disasters have made the need for food security utmost necessary.
Bangladesh should take steps towards increasing agricultural production by utilizing its opportunities like fertile land, irrigation facilities, agro production friendly climate and self-learned agriculture sensitized population. This will ignite heaps of hope towards attaining food security that may lead to restore self-sufficiency in food and to earn foreign exchange by exporting surplus foods.
As agriculture is the only means of food security and also is the livelihood for significant number of population, therefore agriculture sector needs government direct intervention on issues like launching mechanized harvesting for increasing production, emphasizing on more production of fish, poultry, livestock, fruits etc and ensuring of getting fair price by farmers for their produces.
The major concern of farmers is related to hazard free marketing of their products and getting fair prices. During bumper production and even in lockdown period, they are being forced to sell their produces at throwaway prices. It has been seen that farmers dumped hardly-earned produces on roads or setting produces ablaze out of frustration as the way of protesting for not getting fair price or not selling their produces.
This is happening because of middlemen’s interferences in marketing of agrarian products. So, it is government foremost responsibility to ensuring of getting fair prices for farmers’ produces by any means removing middlemen’s unlawful interferences on marketing system. Regarding this, government may control the primary marketing system.
Like purchase of rice and wheat by food department, government may think of purchasing perishable and rotten produces with the settled prices. The prices might be determined by the consultation with representatives from farmers and concerned stakeholders involved in marketing.
Air-conditioned procurement centers with temporary storage of perishable & rotten agro products might be established in the production intensive areas so that farmers can easily sell their produces at the center with determined prices. Stakeholders such as wholesalers, chain shop owners, exporters etc involved in marketing might be asked to buy products from procurement centers. The whole process of trading at procurement center must be freed from middlemen’s interference.
Government may take initiative for smooth transportation of purchased agrarian products regarding ensuring safe delivery of products to different destination. Agrarian products transportation friendly vehicles and goods train may operate like launching of Mango/Cattle Train, Postal Service for mango transportation etc. Procurement centers might be administered by the Department of Agricultural Marketing (DAM) and run by the authority under PPP with delegating the power of management.
Chain shop owners or exporters are encouraged to invest directly to farmers with assigning an MOU with DAM on behalf of farmers for ensuring of getting logistic facilities for harvesting, fair prices of produces and other benefits.
Cultivation in Bangladesh is still traditional. It is proved that mechanization in cultivation results more yields, less money to invest and less time to get yields compare to traditional method.
Pandemic and natural disasters certainly stressed new urge to increase agricultural production. So, the country needs to accelerate the process of mechanization in harvesting by ensuring easily available and affordable modern machineries to farmers. Considering poor economic condition of marginalized farmers, government may give more subsidies on agrarian machineries and declare stimulus loan package with minimum interest.
Government may motivate interested rich persons to establish co-operative fisheries and fish-duck, cattle and dairy farming jointly with farmers in the haors, chars and other swampy lands of the country with ensuring investors of getting complicacy free land, bank loan etc.
Government may build confidence among farmers and making them optimistic to produce more by taking initiatives to establish agrarian products based industries such as vegetables/fish/meat/chicken processing factories, Juice/Jam/Jelly & fast food item factories, factories of milk-made products etc in concerned production intensive areas.
Industrialization in the valued cultivable lands should be stopped by any means. As cultivable lands are decreasing due to river erosion every year, therefore establishment of industries should be encouraged into the fallow and wastelands.
Collaborative efforts might be needed towards achieving desired food security that definitely save people from confronting hunger during the pandemic or natural calamities.
(Bayazid Khan is working for primary education. Email: [email protected])
