HEAD TO HEAD

Everyday 17,000 children around the world die of hunger. And 800.5 million live in extreme hunger. The main reason behind hunger is poverty. According to Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, a person needs 2,790 kilocalories a day to stay healthy. Overall, food supply has increased, but due to poor distribution, waste of food and other reasons, a huge population in the world remains hungry. According to EU, European countries waste 100 million tonnes of food every year which is almost one-third of produced food. A huge amount of food is also wasted in the Middle East. I have seen this myself at restaurants and homes in the Gulf region. The amount of food wasted in Saudi Arabia during Ramadan and other months could easily feed several non-developed and developing countries for many days. A news report, published on March 8 in The National says that emirates of the UAE waste 1.3 billion tonnes of food every year which could easily feed our nation for at least a hundred years.        

The world's 10 million poor people, 17 percent of the total population, earn only $1.24 every day which is less than Tk 100. However, the number increased to 43 percent in 1990 and 52 percent in 1981. Thus, we can see a gradual development in this respect. In fact, with respect to MDG goals, during the past two and a half decades, many successful efforts have been made to combat hunger. During the past decade, 160.7 million have been taken out of the list of extremely impoverished and hungry people. But there are still huge populations vulnerable to hunger. A major reason behind this is global warming and climate change which is having a heavy impact on food production. New challenges are coming to the forefront. And, everyone is accepting the challenges of nature - from hungry Africa to oil-enriched desert lands of the Gulf region. Even inhabitants of deserts around the world are experimenting on deserts to determine how they can get higher yields, and have achieved remarkable success.     

United Nations World Food Programme's (WFP) hunger statistics put the number of people who do not get sufficient food to 790.5 million. Most of these people live in developing countries, mainly in Asia. But according to the stats based on the average of population, most of the hungry people live in Sub-Saharan Africa. In that region, one in four persons does not have access to nutritious food. In Asia one in every six children is underweight. In the developing world, one in three children is stunted. According to WFP, if women farmers had enough resources and wealth and could work on their own, world's hungry and poverty stricken population would decrease by 10.5 million. In African countries, this crisis has become huge among women. They are contributing more to farming but they still lack in wealth and don't have ownership of property or independence. But African women are starting to come out of this shackle. Our women farmers have done a notable job in this regard. This certainly defines 'empowerment'.                   

In primary schools of the developing world, 60.6 million students go to classes on an empty stomach. 20.3 million African students go to school without eating anything. Recently, on a visit to Luti Saint Henry's Primary School in Uganda's Rakai district, I found that a magical solution called the mid-day meal has revolutionised the level of education there. In Uganda, the literacy rate is pretty high. Now the country's growth is going up fast.

85 percent of the world's poor live in villages (Global Multidimensional Poverty Index). And most of them are hungry. The theme of this year's World Food Day is, 'Social protection and agriculture: breaking the cycle of rural poverty'. Modern agriculture focuses more on commercial aspects and invests accordingly, which is why marginal farming communities are pushed back further against the wall. 

This is true for Bangladesh. Children of farmers are no longer interested in the livelihood of their parents and are more eager to go and work in urban areas. The cost of farming is going up with high labour and production costs. Many landowners are leasing their lands and moving to cities for other job opportunities. Labourers and sharecroppers are benefiting. These people don't need to pay extra costs for labourers. They can also cultivate three to four seasons in a year. If they encounter any loss in a season, they can overcome it by getting more profits from other seasons.   

Farming is becoming more and more dependent on technology over time. In Europe, farmers say that farming is becoming very expensive with respect to inputs, seeds and use of optimum technology. On a visit to the Netherlands, I saw how they have advanced their farming through the best use of technology. GreenQ, a horticultural research institute, is using LED light treatment and wind turbines. For processing, they use highly efficient and expensive technology, something that is unthinkable for non-developed and developing countries.   

To wipe out rural poverty, we first need to empower ordinary farmers so that they can continue to contribute to food security, while using natural resources and sustainable technology. The father of hybrid rice, Yuan Longping, always reminded me about this very simple idea. 

Over time, farming has been diversified. To keep up with the pace of agricultural production, we have to think about family farming, soil health (something which Dr Swaminathan, father of the Green Revolution stressed on), climate change, global commerce and politics. The famous organic farm owner of Scotland, Petty Richie, spoke about this when I visited Scotland in April this year. He said that no one can single-handedly fight climate change. All the countries will need to unite meaningfully to tackle the adverse impacts of it. The UN has to play a big role. With everyone's efforts, we can fight climate change.

Interestingly, despite the constant threat of natural disaster and other challenges, Bangladesh stands tall when it comes to food security. Although Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries facing climate change, we have achieved remarkable success in our farming sector. Bangladesh holds fourth place in producing freshwater fish. We have also done a superb job in producing vegetables. Overall, our achievements are revolutionary with respect to food production and nutrition development. According to the stats of international organisations, however, 41 percent of children below five years of age are stunted, 36 percent of children have low weight, 51 percent of children suffer from anemia and 41 percent of the people of the country have food intake below 2,122 kilocalories. Overall, 57 percent of the poor people of Bangladesh don't have access to nutritious food.

Despite such daunting challenges, we have faith in the government's Vision 2021 where we see the hope of achieving a sustainable and permanent food security solution. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was recently awarded the 'Champion of the Earth' title in policy leadership category. For a country like ours that is vulnerable to climate change, this is a huge achievement. This year, founder of BRAC Dr. Fazle Hasan Abed also won the World Food Prize, which is the highest recognition in the field of food security. Both these achievements are great honours for the nation. Their works truly inspire us and are significant milestones for this year's World Food Day.   

These days, global think-tanks focus more on villages. Hridoye Mati O Manush has been spreading this message from day one of its telecast. Villages are the roots of this nation and they can save global civilisations. That is why wiping out rural poverty is a crucial factor in global food production planning. That is why I once again repeat the theme of this year's World Food Day - Social Protection and agriculture: breaking the cycle of rural poverty.

The writer is a media and agriculture development activist. He is an Ashoka Fellow and recipient of the Ekushey Padak and FAO A.H. Boerma Award. He is Director and Head of News at Channel i and director and host of the popular agro-documentary Hridoye Mati O Manush.                

Email: shykhs@gmail.com