Food Crisis Looms in Bangladesh
By JULHAS ALAM : AP writer
Apr 12, 2008
DHAKA, Bangladesh --
For a 13-year-old boy in this impoverished,
teeming city, some things are more im****tant
than cl***** -- rice, for one.
"I need to eat first, then school," said
Mohammad Hasan, standing at the back
of a line of hundreds of people waiting to
pick up government-subsidized rice.
With the price of food skyrocketing around
the world, desperately poor and over-
populated Bangladesh is considered one
of the world's most vulnerable nations.
An adviser to the country's Ministry of Food,
A.M.M. Shawkat Ali, warned of a "hidden
hunger" in Bangladesh and economists
estimate 30 million of the country's 150
million people could go hungry -- a crisis
that could become a serious political
problem for the military-backed government.
"We fear some 30 million of the ultra poor
will not be able to afford three meals a day"
said Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, a leading
economist in Dhaka, the capital.
Bangladesh already faces a decrease in
arable land due to industrialization and the
ever-growing population. Its low-lying land
also is reeling from major floods and a
devastating cyclone last year that destroyed
some 3 million tons of food crops and left
millions homeless and hungry.
The price of rice, the core of the Banglade****
diet, has jumped by more than 30 percent
since then -- a major problem in a country
where nearly half the population survives
on less than $1 a day.
The government, which has ruled Bangladesh
since January 2007, has responded to the
shortages with varying degrees of success.
It has opened more than 6,000 outlets
distributing rice at roughly half the market
price and announced plans to open more.
But "the government failed to build enough
stock of food immediately after last year's
disasters, and because of that the situation
has become volatile," said Ahmad, who
heads an independent think tank, the
Bangladesh Development Council.
"The government needs to build a buffer
stock immediately. If the government fails,
the situation will worsen," he said.
Major opposition parties have recently
threatened street protests if the govern-
ment fails to rein in rising prices and
growing discontent could threaten the
political balance.
India has agreed to ****p 400,000 tons of
heavily discounted rice to Bangladesh,
but it could take weeks to arrive and
officials are uncertain it will be enough.
Because of high food prices, the Asian
Development Bank warned that inflation
could reach 9 percent by June.
Bangladesh is far from the only country
with food problems. There have been riots
in the African nations of Burkina Faso,
Mauritania, Mozambique and Senegal.
Rising prices have hit poor countries like
Haiti and Peru and even developed
countries like Italy and the United States.
A confluence of problems are driving up
prices. They include soaring petroleum
prices, which increase the cost of fertilizers,
trans****t and food processing; rising
demand for meat and dairy in China and
India, resulting in increased costs for grain,
used for cattle feed; and the ever-rising
demand for raw materials to make biofuels.
As of December, 37 countries faced food
crises, and 20 had imposed some sort of
food-price controls. The U.N.'s World Food
Program says it's facing a $500 million
shortfall in funding this year to feed 89
million needy people.
World Bank President Robert Zoellick
warned that prices could continue to rise
for several years.
"This is not a this-year phenomenon,"
Zoellick said.
In Bangladesh, leaders are scrambling
for solutions. Last week a senior official
suggested people eat potatoes instead
of rice.
Abdus Sobhan, a construction worker,
who had spent hours waiting in the heat
for discounted rice, dismissed the notion.
"It's better if _his_ family starts first, then
we can think if we will change our habit of
eating rice," he said. "We can't bear it anymore."
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