Enact law on right to food
Speakers at a dialogue yesterday emphasised the need for enacting a law on right to food in the country to ensure food security.
This will enable a person to seek the court's intervention if he or she is deprived of food, said MB Akhter, programme director of Oxfam, in a press briefing held after the dialogue in the Cirdap Auditorium in the capital.
Meanwhile at a workshop, academics, researchers and civil society members said the government must ensure food safety in Bangladesh.
MB Akhter at the dialogue said although the country is now self-sufficient regarding food production, food crisis will emerge in a decade or two due to climate change.
Oxfam and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations organised the three-day dialogue on the right to food that ended yesterday.
In Bangladesh, 16 percent of the population, mostly those living in coastal, char and areas affected by river erosion, do not get adequate food, said Mohsin Ali, secretary of Right to Food Alliance, quoting FAO statistics.
Replying to a question regarding food banks in Saarc countries, MB Akhter said although there was a decision taken to form a food bank, a charitable organisation that would distribute food to those in need, it was not implemented.
At the workshop on "Food Safety System in Bangladesh", speakers suggested creating mass awareness about the danger of unsafe food. British Council with Bangladesh Food Safety Authority organised the workshop at Probashi Kalyan Bhaban in the capital.
Prof Shah Monir Hossain, senior national advisor to FAO in Dhaka, said there are many unethical traders who ignore safety issues.
An expert on food and health, Dr Aliya Naheed said instead of food safety campaigns, focus should be on conducting researches and disseminating knowledge among stakeholders.
Syed Abdul Hamid, associate professor at Dhaka University's Institute of Health Economics, presented a keynote paper at the programme.
As per an ongoing research conducted by Promoting Knowledge for Accountable Systems of British Council, the workshop was organised to learn views of experts on institutionalisation and governance of the food safety system.
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