Citing the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis, the FAO report said about 16.5 million people will face high levels of acute food insecurity from April to October 2024, while the number is projected to be 14.6 million in the February to March 2024 period.
Recently, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has released a list of 45 countries facing food insecurity and needing foreign food aid. Bangladesh is also included in this list.
Concerns remain about access to food as persistently high food inflation is reducing the purchasing power of vulnerable households.
“Food inflation has remained elevated since August 2022… due to high costs of production and transportation, reduced imports of cereals (particularly the major staple wheat), and a significant depreciation of the taka, making imports more expensive,” the FAO report said.
Furthermore, around 1 million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar are living in the country as of April 2024, but Bangladesh is completely dependent on humanitarian aid to provide them food.
Regarding the overall issue, M.A. Sattar Mandal, former vice-chancellor of Bangladesh Agricultural University and agricultural economist, said Bangladesh is improving not only grain but also other food production including vegetables, fish, poultry and eggs.
He said as the country's food scenario is poor and global food prices are rising, Bangladesh has no choice but to focus on increasing food production.