Despite the government’s past efforts to make sure that no Bangladeshi citizen goes hungry, the progress made keeps getting undone either by natural calamities or gross incompetence.
According to reports, as it stands, the nation’s food supply is likely to face an imminent threat because of the loss of Boro production arising from flash floods in the Haor wetlands.
This is nothing new for us.
But what makes the rice crisis worse is the fact that both the public and private spheres of relief are currently at their lowest reserves in recent memory, with the government even scrambling to make a quick response.
Which is a shame, really. The current government recently reiterated its staunch commitment to ending hunger in Bangladesh, and has, to an extent, shown signs of fulfilling that promise.
Even though flash floods are the main source of the crisis, unstable prices, unnecessary bureaucracy, and corruption typically embedded within the lower rungs of the government keep any progress from being made into improving the situation.
We need to understand that a rice crisis must be treated as a national priority.
It is impossible for a nation to prosper when its very people keep dying of hunger. And while the government’s commitment, at least on paper, has been commendable, it needs to identify the key areas of problem.
This crisis needs to be brought to the attention of the highest echelons of our government.
When it comes to food, we cannot afford to take chances.
