Food supply primarily comes from three sources. Namely agriculture, livestock, and fisheries. These play a vital role in the socio-economic development and progress of Bangladesh.
Production of crops, fruits, vegetables, animals, and fish have increased manifold, even with various adversities. As a result of delivering new and improved technologies and production methods to the farmers, food and nutrition security levels have increased appreciably.
Bangladesh has been recognized by the world as a role model for the development of all these branches of agriculture. Bangladesh is now 2nd in the world in jackfruit production, 3rd in rice, vegetable, and onion production, 7th in mango and potato production, 8th in guava production, and 10th in seasonal fruit production. Bangladesh also ranks 3rd in fish production from inland water bodies, 1st in Hilsa production, 2nd in goat milk production, 4th in goat number and meat production, and 12th in cattle production.
Nutrition and safe food
Survival without food is impossible. A baby's primary need from birth is food; which is essential for its growth. If that food is not safe and nutritious, then the normal growth of the child is disrupted, their intellect or thinking do not develop properly.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a person needs to eat at least 400 grams of vegetables and fruits -- 200 grams of fruit vegetables, 100 grams of leafy vegetables, and 100 grams of fruits -- for good health. If any nutrient-rich food is not safe, it will be useless, and instead may cause various diseases or death. So food must be safe.
Food security is clearly related to personal, family, and social stability, and thereby also with state development. The prerequisite for building a healthy and strong nation is to ensure food security and balanced nutrition of the people. Bangladesh has already achieved self-sufficiency in grain crops, especially rice production. Various institutions including the Ministry of Agriculture have worked relentlessly to implement the directive of the prime minister, "Not even an inch of land should remain uncultivated."
Bangladesh Safe Food Authority has already signed a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Agriculture Extension, Department of Fisheries, and Department of Livestock and other partner organizations for this purpose. They provide instructions for following HACCP, GMP, GHP, ISO 22000 standards and guidelines in food industry establishments and food processing factories with the aim of implementing an effective safe food management system and the implementation of Safe Food Act 2013.
Good agricultural practices
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), good agricultural practices (GAP) are very important in consolidating the environment, economy, and social security by providing safe and quality food and non-food agricultural products.
Applying GAPs to the farm and supply chain ensures safe and quality food supply during food production, procurement, transportation, storage, marketing, distribution, and post-harvest processing. With GAPs, it is possible to protect human health, preserve the environment, achieve international standard products, and systematic development of work.
The Ministry of Agriculture has already formulated the Bangladesh Good Agricultural Practices (Bangladesh GAP) policy 2020, with necessary measures to implement it at the field level.
Partner projects
The biggest project undertaken in the agriculture sector to ensure food and nutrition security, by transforming current agriculture into sustainable and safe commercial agriculture for Bangladesh’s future, has been officially inaugurated. The cost of this project called, Program on Agriculture and Rural Transformation for Nutrition Entrepreneurship and Resilience in Bangladesh (Partner) has been estimated at Tk7,000 crores. This is the biggest project ever undertaken for the development of agriculture.
Notable activities of this mega project include: Increasing 3 lakh hectares of fruit- and vegetable-arable land through GAP certification; increasing the total amount of 4 lakh arable land including the development of new varieties of high-yielding rice resistant to climate shocks and non-rice grain crops; bringing 1 lakh hectares of new arable land under irrigation through the use of improved and efficient irrigation technology; expansion of digital agricultural services by giving “Krishak Smart Card” to 2,27,53,321 farmer families across the country with the aim of building Smart Bangladesh.
Activities like horticultural crops, setting up laboratories, and seed testing will be strengthened under this project. E-vouchers will be subsidized and digital financial systems will be created for farmers. It has also been informed that agricultural extension services will be brought to the doorsteps of farmers through mobile plant clinics.
Best implementation strategies
Properly following specific practices at all levels of the food chain is the cornerstone of GAP.
Global dependence on food imports and exports leads to the presence of heavy metals in the food chain, the presence of pesticide residues, microbial contamination and spread, which are all major risks to public health. In this context, various countries have imposed strict restrictions on food import and export to ensure safe food.
Residues of chemicals applied to crops in the production process, presence of pollutants or heavy metals or toxins, insects, disease-causing microorganisms, commercial contaminants, and other substances in food can occur at any stage of the food chain. Therefore it is necessary to identify and prevent or eliminate food safety hazards at every level of the food chain.
The consumption of crops produced as food by implementing GAPs is safe for health because it ensures food quality, risk reduction, environmental balance, worker health safety, and welfare at all stages of production. That is why initiatives have been taken to follow and implement GAPs in Bangladesh in line with international trends.
It will soon be possible to ensure the implementation, management, and benefits of this policy by preparing and properly implementing a time-bound action plan. If safe food is not ensured from the primary production stage, food can never be made safe through processing.
With Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and Good Aquaculture Practices (GAP), and Good Animal Husbandry Practices (GAHP), the desired results and food safety will not remain elusive.
Shamiran Biswas is an Agriculturist and a freelance contributor.