It is a matter of grave concern that, as per the latest global report on food crises by the Food Security Information Network (FSIN), almost 12 million people, including more than 600,000 Rohingya refugees, were projected to have faced "high levels of acute food insecurity" in Bangladesh in 2023.
With inflation and the volatility of the global order, this number could very well be on the up in 2024 -- and it is imperative that we do everything in our capabilities to ensure this does not happen.
Bangladesh's greatest ambition over the next two decades is to not only build a prosperous nation, but an equitable one. And there can be no equitable nation when millions of Bangladeshi citizens have to deal with food insecurity on a daily basis.
Ensuring economic growth is paramount to our long term success and goals, but in the meantime, ensuring that everyday citizens do not go hungry is even more important. Bangladesh has always prided itself on how, after years of suffering through devastating famine and acute food shortage, we have largely been able to ward off any further danger in this regard.
To that end, with food insecurity a looming threat for quite some time now, it is now time for the authorities concerned to get to work to make sure this doesn't get out of hand.
Extreme weather events, economic shocks, global wars, and high levels of domestic inflation are all factors that don't seem to show any signs of abating, which is why designing smart and pro-active policies, bolstering our social safety net, and a focus on efficient harvest of crops are some of the ways we can ensure that nobody faces the danger of going hungry.