Making food security nutrition-sensitive

From a food-deficit country after independence, Bangladesh is now one of the world's leading producers of rice, vegetables, fish and fruits. However, ensuring food availability alone does not establish true food security. The biggest challenge today is to make food security nutrition-sensitive, so that every person can consume food rich in sufficient calories as well as essential vitamins, minerals, proteins and other nutrients.

The United Nations' recent State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) 2026 report has brought an important warning for Bangladesh. The report states that 26.2 percent of Bangladesh's population, or about 4.54 crore people, were moderately or severely food insecure during 2023-2025.

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This means that more than one in every four Bangladeshis could not ensure adequate and nutritious food on a regular basis. (Source: SOFI 2026; The Daily Star, 24 July 2026).

This information reminds us that achieving self-sufficiency in food production does not ensure food security. The challenge today is not just food availability; it is building a food system that ensures safe, affordable and nutritious food for all.

According to SOFI 2026, while global hunger rates have declined somewhat, the high cost of healthy food is still one of the main problems. About 269 crore people in the world cannot afford a healthy diet. In Bangladesh, as in low- and middle-income countries, rising food prices and purchasing power constraints have become major barriers to nutritious food consumption.

In the country, food inflation has had a huge impact on the lives of ordinary people in the past few years. While the availability of rice has been relatively stable, the diversity of the diets of low- and middle-class families has decreased due to increases in the prices of eggs, fish, milk, meat, fruits and vegetables.

As a result, many families suffer from protein, vitamin and mineral deficiencies despite receiving adequate calories. This condition is called "Hidden Hunger", which has a long-term negative impact on the health and performance of children, women and adolescents.

Multiple structural factors are at work behind food insecurity. Climate change is putting agricultural production at risk due to floods, droughts, cyclones, salinity and erratic rainfall. On the other hand, instability in global markets, rising fuel and fertiliser prices and weak supply chains are driving up food prices. The United Nations has warned that progress made in food security will not be sustainable unless effective measures are taken to address climate and global trade risks.

In this situation, Bangladesh's food policy needs to be reviewed anew. For a long time, the main goal of agricultural policy was to increase rice production. While this policy has played an important role in eliminating food shortages, in the current reality, priority should be given to nutrition-sensitive agriculture.

In addition to rice, agricultural research, extension and investment should increase the production of pulses, oilseeds, fruits, vegetables, milk, eggs, fish and other nutritious foods. At the same time, it is important to ensure fair prices for farmers and increase the efficiency of the market system to make healthy food affordable for consumers.

Reducing post-harvest wastage through the development of cold-chain, storage, processing and supply-chain systems will increase the supply of nutritious food in the market, and prices will also remain relatively stable. Social protection programmes should also be made more nutrition-oriented. Instead of just distributing food grains, consideration can be given to including eggs, milk, pulses, edible oil and other nutritious foods for the poor and vulnerable population.

In addition, school-based nutritious food programmes, nutritional support for pregnant and lactating mothers and nutrition education for children need to be further strengthened. It is also necessary to develop an integrated policy framework between the agriculture, health, education, trade, local government and social protection sectors to ensure food security.

Bangladesh has already created a success story in food production. Now it is time to convert that success into nutritional security. A recent UN report clearly tells us that ensuring food quality, affordability and access to balanced diets for all is the biggest policy challenge of the future, in addition to food quantity.

Therefore, the food policy of the future should be: "Making Food Security Nutrition-Sensitive," where human nutrition and well-being are at the centre of every agricultural policy, market policy and social protection programme.

The writer is principal scientific officer at BARI. He can be reached at jamaluddin1971@yahoo.com