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Govt’s food security success momentous, claims minister

Staff Correspondent
Food and Disaster Management Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque yesterday said the present government had made momentous progress in food security over the last three years in the country' s history, but recognised that a large number of people were still suffering from malnutrition.
"Now we have enough food stock, but we have also the greatest problem like lack of nutrition”, he said, speaking at a seminar on "Enhancing Access to Food Security" in the capital.
The minister also said the government had reduced the child mortality rate to a huge extent, but around 30 to 31 percent children were still suffering from malnutrition.
A World Bank report, however, says 36 percent children who are generally marked as underweight are still facing the problem of malnourishment in Bangladesh, said Dr Akhter Ahmed, chief of party of Bangladesh Policy Research and
Strategy Support Programme, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
According to the report, the government has to bring the rate of child death down to 31 to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) by 2015.
About the allegation of "syndicate" in increasing food prices, the minister slammed the media and asserted that it was demand and supply of food, which played the role in determining food prices not the syndicate.
“We had an important electoral pledge to reduce food prices, which were very much high in 2007-08. Our government has been successful in maintain the stability of food prices”.
Razzaque however laid stress on the safety net programmes in the rural areas for ensuring food security for the poor.
During his presentation. Dr Akhter Ahmed mentioned some reasons of food insecurity, including the lack of
26 million people's purchase capacity of required food and lack of quality diet.
Around 60 percent people are landless in the country, who live on wages, and there are around 17 percent people living under extreme poverty, he said.
The expert offered some recommendations, including stepping up poverty reduction programmes, boosting food production, making a food price policy, generating nonfarm income, streamlining safety nets, and improving health and nutrition.
Krishibid Shawkat Momen Shajahan, MP, chairman on parliamentary standing committee on agriculture ministry, conducted the seminar, while Russell Pepe, chief of party the Promoting Democratic Institutions and Practices (PRODIP), a USAID and UKAid-funded programme, which organised the seminar, among others, spoke on the occasion.