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Global rise in food prices: What Bangladesh can do
IT is the new face of catastrophe, with a storm of food scarcity, global warming, rocketing oil prices, and the world population explosion, that is plunging humanity into the biggest crisis of the 21st century by pushing up food prices and spreading hunger and poverty in developing countries.
"Food scarcity means a big increase in the number of people going hungry," says the World Food Program's Greg Barrow. "Without doubt, we are passing through a difficult period for the world's hungry poor."
The FAO food price index is up nearly 44 percent over the past 12 months. The price of rice, a staple food for Bangladeshis, has increased in retail and wholesale markets. No wonder its impact has fallen adversely on Bangladesh.
For the last few months, economists and other experts have been debating as to why the price has risen and how to address the crisis. Various suggestions have been made in the media to cope with the predicament.
Why do the food prices rise?
Experts have provided many reasons, and some of them deserve mention: First: Continuing drought in farming areas has led to drastically reduced agricultural production. For example, in Australia, a two-year drought and scarcity of water have reduced their wheat crop, and farmers in rural Australia are in a dilemma as to whether to sell their land or to keep on farming. Second: The world's population is growing at more than 90 million a year, which has added to the scarcity of food grains. By 2050, Bangladesh will have about 254 million people, according to the UN. The world population is expected to hit nine billion by that time, and most of the additional 2.5 billion people will live in the developing world. Third: In almost every developing country, farming lands are being reduced by human settlements and industry as population grows. Farming lands are gradually being converted to grow bio-fuel and cash crops, instead of rice and wheat. Furthermore, it takes about seven pounds of grain to produce one pound of beef, which means land that could be used to grow food for humans is being used to produce animal feed. A drive toward greener fuels in the US is compounding global food problems. It is estimated that one in four bushels of corn crop this year will be diverted to make ethanol. In Bangladesh, many of the farming lands are being cultivated for cash crops, rather than rice and wheat. Fourth: A number of food exporting countries have imposed restrictions on their exports, and want to keep more of their food at home. Vietnam and India announced further curbs on overseas sales on March 28, sending rice price higher in world markets. Fifth: The emergence of China's middle-class is reportedly adding hugely to demand, not just for basic commodities like corn, soybean and wheat, but also for meat, milk and other high-protein foods. It is reported that a Chinese person now eats 50 kilograms a year (which was just 20 kg in 2001). The rising prices of food have caused distress among people in developing countries. Waves of discontent are already being felt. Protests in Cameroon and Burkina Faso in Africa took place in February. Protesters rallied in Indonesia, and fast-food chains in the Philippines are being urged to cut rice portions to counter rise in prices. The Director of the World Food Programme has been on a global tour in search of donations to fill a $500 million funding gap caused by the rising prices. Experts say that the world faces 10 to 15 years of steep rises in food costs unless governments make policy options to increase food production. Some of them might have to make painful decisions in macro-economic policy to feed their people. There is a flip side to the food costs. The countries that have surplus food stock can get lucrative prices for rice and wheat. Some economists say that the supply and demand chain will prompt farmers in many countries to increase production, and farmers have never had such a large incentive to grow more food grains. However, it will take time. Land tenure and food security
Generally, resource or land tenure is defined as the legal and customary rules that govern an individual's, or a group's, relationship to the land and its resources. Tenure determines who owns a resource, who can use or extract it, and who can exclude others from using it. More specifically, the rights associated with tenure include: -The right to use a resource, or control how it is used; -The right to exclude others from unauthorised use; -The right to derive income from the resource; -The right to sell all or some of the above rights, either permanently through sale or temporarily through a lease. Land tenure and food security have been the subjects of extensive -- but generally separate -- research in the past. Links between the two issues are now receiving increased attention. It is acknowledged that there exists not just the conventional link between access to land and access to food in the short run, but also the recursive link between access to food and the ability to maintain sufficient resources to meet long-term needs. Such a framework makes explicit the trade-offs that poor households may face in bad years, between consumption and investment in non-labour assets. Perhaps, less intuitively, it also suggests that the need for self-insurance may force poor households to choose efficient crops or production strategies. From an economic perspective, the question of land ownership together with agrarian reforms is linked to increased agricultural productivity, employment opportunity, and related development issues. Apart from economic functions, land ownership has a more profound social function. The distribution of land in a just and fair manner has an impact on the quality of the social fabric within the community. It fosters equity and justice. Empowerment of farm workers through ownership of land appears to be an important pre-condition for increasing food production. Vietnam and West Bengal did it, and food production increased. Vietnam, a food-deficit country, now has become an exporter of rice, largely because of extensive land reforms. Land reforms in Bangladesh
One of the fundamentals in achieving this goal is to undertake comprehensive land reforms that eluded the national agenda of political leaders during the 37 years in Bangladesh. No serious debate took place in the parliament on this vital national issue. Land and agrarian reforms are vital to national security. In Bangladesh, it is reported that 50% of households are landless, and the number of landlessness has dramatically increased over the years. The richest 10% percent own 40% of land, while 10% of the poor own only 1.84%, according to a media report in 2004. Economists have suggested repeatedly that, for increased agricultural production, comprehensive land reform may include consideration of absentee landlordism and a ceiling for agricultural products for individuals/families. Furthermore, they suggested that khas (government-owned) land could be distributed to landless farmers. Such action will increase person-to-land ratio, breaking the age-old bondage of exploitation and poverty. The present economic model is premised on the centrality of markets. But the market forces themselves are a function of economic power and control. In cases in which economic resources and opportunities are widely distributed, economic activity may be best left to market forces and individuals. But in societies like Bangladesh, with a skewed distribution of natural resources (including land) and opportunities, free-play of market forces tends to marginalise an increasing proportion of people in the country, without state intervention through reforms. In such a circumstance, land reform is a vital key to increased food production in Bangladesh.
Experts have provided many reasons, and some of them deserve mention: First: Continuing drought in farming areas has led to drastically reduced agricultural production. For example, in Australia, a two-year drought and scarcity of water have reduced their wheat crop, and farmers in rural Australia are in a dilemma as to whether to sell their land or to keep on farming. Second: The world's population is growing at more than 90 million a year, which has added to the scarcity of food grains. By 2050, Bangladesh will have about 254 million people, according to the UN. The world population is expected to hit nine billion by that time, and most of the additional 2.5 billion people will live in the developing world. Third: In almost every developing country, farming lands are being reduced by human settlements and industry as population grows. Farming lands are gradually being converted to grow bio-fuel and cash crops, instead of rice and wheat. Furthermore, it takes about seven pounds of grain to produce one pound of beef, which means land that could be used to grow food for humans is being used to produce animal feed. A drive toward greener fuels in the US is compounding global food problems. It is estimated that one in four bushels of corn crop this year will be diverted to make ethanol. In Bangladesh, many of the farming lands are being cultivated for cash crops, rather than rice and wheat. Fourth: A number of food exporting countries have imposed restrictions on their exports, and want to keep more of their food at home. Vietnam and India announced further curbs on overseas sales on March 28, sending rice price higher in world markets. Fifth: The emergence of China's middle-class is reportedly adding hugely to demand, not just for basic commodities like corn, soybean and wheat, but also for meat, milk and other high-protein foods. It is reported that a Chinese person now eats 50 kilograms a year (which was just 20 kg in 2001). The rising prices of food have caused distress among people in developing countries. Waves of discontent are already being felt. Protests in Cameroon and Burkina Faso in Africa took place in February. Protesters rallied in Indonesia, and fast-food chains in the Philippines are being urged to cut rice portions to counter rise in prices. The Director of the World Food Programme has been on a global tour in search of donations to fill a $500 million funding gap caused by the rising prices. Experts say that the world faces 10 to 15 years of steep rises in food costs unless governments make policy options to increase food production. Some of them might have to make painful decisions in macro-economic policy to feed their people. There is a flip side to the food costs. The countries that have surplus food stock can get lucrative prices for rice and wheat. Some economists say that the supply and demand chain will prompt farmers in many countries to increase production, and farmers have never had such a large incentive to grow more food grains. However, it will take time. Land tenure and food security
Generally, resource or land tenure is defined as the legal and customary rules that govern an individual's, or a group's, relationship to the land and its resources. Tenure determines who owns a resource, who can use or extract it, and who can exclude others from using it. More specifically, the rights associated with tenure include: -The right to use a resource, or control how it is used; -The right to exclude others from unauthorised use; -The right to derive income from the resource; -The right to sell all or some of the above rights, either permanently through sale or temporarily through a lease. Land tenure and food security have been the subjects of extensive -- but generally separate -- research in the past. Links between the two issues are now receiving increased attention. It is acknowledged that there exists not just the conventional link between access to land and access to food in the short run, but also the recursive link between access to food and the ability to maintain sufficient resources to meet long-term needs. Such a framework makes explicit the trade-offs that poor households may face in bad years, between consumption and investment in non-labour assets. Perhaps, less intuitively, it also suggests that the need for self-insurance may force poor households to choose efficient crops or production strategies. From an economic perspective, the question of land ownership together with agrarian reforms is linked to increased agricultural productivity, employment opportunity, and related development issues. Apart from economic functions, land ownership has a more profound social function. The distribution of land in a just and fair manner has an impact on the quality of the social fabric within the community. It fosters equity and justice. Empowerment of farm workers through ownership of land appears to be an important pre-condition for increasing food production. Vietnam and West Bengal did it, and food production increased. Vietnam, a food-deficit country, now has become an exporter of rice, largely because of extensive land reforms. Land reforms in Bangladesh
One of the fundamentals in achieving this goal is to undertake comprehensive land reforms that eluded the national agenda of political leaders during the 37 years in Bangladesh. No serious debate took place in the parliament on this vital national issue. Land and agrarian reforms are vital to national security. In Bangladesh, it is reported that 50% of households are landless, and the number of landlessness has dramatically increased over the years. The richest 10% percent own 40% of land, while 10% of the poor own only 1.84%, according to a media report in 2004. Economists have suggested repeatedly that, for increased agricultural production, comprehensive land reform may include consideration of absentee landlordism and a ceiling for agricultural products for individuals/families. Furthermore, they suggested that khas (government-owned) land could be distributed to landless farmers. Such action will increase person-to-land ratio, breaking the age-old bondage of exploitation and poverty. The present economic model is premised on the centrality of markets. But the market forces themselves are a function of economic power and control. In cases in which economic resources and opportunities are widely distributed, economic activity may be best left to market forces and individuals. But in societies like Bangladesh, with a skewed distribution of natural resources (including land) and opportunities, free-play of market forces tends to marginalise an increasing proportion of people in the country, without state intervention through reforms. In such a circumstance, land reform is a vital key to increased food production in Bangladesh.
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