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Diversify crops, change diets

Experts call for a shift from rice-centric farming to address malnutrition challenges

Staff Correspondent
A rice-centric agriculture would not help much in addressing the challenges of malnutrition in Bangladesh, experts opined at a workshop in the capital yesterday underscoring the need for policy support to diversify both crops and diets.
" People in Bangladesh depend on rice for 71 percent of their total calorie intake and 57 percent of protein. Rice cultivation alone takes up nearly 77 percent of total farmlands in the country," states a report presented at the workshop titled "Evidence-based Policy Options for Food and Nutrition Security in Bangladesh."
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International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), a Washington-based food policy think-tank, in association with the Bangladesh government and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) organised the daylong workshop where two ministers, experts and stakeholders attended.
To reduce dependency on such ricecentric diet, IFPRI Chief of Party in Bangladesh Akhter Ahmed told the workshop, "We've to diversify agriculture to diversify diet."
Although child malnutrition dropped from 60 percent to 40 percent in the country over the last two decades, the situation still remains very challenging, experts noted.
According to a separate presentation by the UN World Food Programme (WFP) Country Representative Christa Rader, 41 percent of children under five are stunted in the country while 36 percent are underweight and 16 percent wasted.
The concerns over the rice-centric agriculture came at a time when
Bangladesh produced a record output of rice (over 34 million MT) this year and decided to export 50,000 MT of rice to Sri Lanka.
Bangladesh was a food-deficit country in 1971 when the population was less than half and rice production a third of the present output.
Appreciating Bangladesh's successes in cutting poverty rates in past two decades and the resilience of its people, IFPRI Director General Shenggen Fan said, "Rice is still very dominant here Crop diversity is still missing. Stunting, wasting and paediatric anaemia are still very high.”
Experts, however, noted that if crops are diversified and social safety net programmes (SSNPs) accompanied by nutrition education are well designed targeting the poor and vulnerable groups, things would change for the better very fast
In her address as the chief guest Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury attached importance to good governance in making the SSNPs a success. Bangladesh currently spends 12 percent
of its annual budgeton SSNPs.
She defended government's farm subsidy policy by saying, "We're funding subsidies from own budget and not taking from the donors. "
Speaking at the opening session of the workshop, the USAID Mission Director in Bangladesh Janina Jaruzelski said that becoming self-sufficient in rice production is a huge accomplishment.
"However, to attain true food security, improve health and stop vicious cycle of poverty, poor nutrition and stunting, Bangladesh needs to diversify agricultural production both to enhance rural income and to improve the nutritional value of the diets of the poor," she added.
Food Minister Qamrul Islam delivered the opening speech while Agriculture Secretary SM Nazmul Islam and economist Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman chaired two subsequent technical sessions. Those sessions included presentations of eight papers on various topics ranging from seed to fisheries, to rice stock policy to women empowerment in agriculture.