WHILE talking to reporters on October 22, the chairman of the standing committee on food and disaster management ministry (MOFDM), a ruling AL lawmaker, Muhammed Sayedul Hoque, said that the MOFDM had already undertaken steps to establish more 141 food godowns to increase food grain storage capacity of the government. Excepting one concrete silo of 50,000 tonnes with jetty facility at Mongla port, the rest of the food godowns would be established in the northern region, known as the granary of the country. With the completion of these godowns/silos, the government's food grain storage capacity will increase to 2.2 million tonnes from the existing capacity of 1.5 million tonnes. This is a good step towards achieving food security in the country.
Why is it necessary to increase the government's food grain storage capacity as well as maintain security stock of food grains at a comfortable level?
Food availability is considered as the most important component of food security, the other two being access to food and utilisation of food. In Bangladesh, food availability is normally thought of in terms of food grains, that is rice and wheat, availability. Since rice and wheat provide respectively about 93% and 7% percent of the country's total cereal intake and together provide about 80% of calories in the Bangladesh diet, this view is easily understandable.
Maintaining security stock of food grains is one of the components of food availability. The government builds up its food security stock from three sources: (i) procuring food grains from domestic production, (ii) importing food grains from abroad, and (iii) receiving food aid, which has almost dried up.
The procurement of food grains from domestic production is most important for building up the government food stock. The government provides incentives to the growers by arresting the fall of prices during the harvesting seasons, and builds up food stock in order to implement the targeted programs for food grain distribution under public food distribution system (PFDS).
The government financed food programs can be classified into three major groups. The first group includes Food for Work (FFW), Test Relief (TR), and Gratuitous Relief (GR), and is designed with the dual objectives of development and relief; the second one is grain price stabilisation program (OMS); and the third is for supplies for the priority groups in emergency jobs.
Leaving aside the urban population (30. 5 % according to population census report of 2001), who live on purchased food grains, even the marginal farmers in the rural areas turn into buyers of food grains a month or so after harvesting season. Adequate stock of food grains in the government godowns acts as a disincentive to the holding of food grains for long by the big farmers and food grain traders. This helps keep the price of food grains stable.
In his budget speech on June 11, Finance Minister A.M. A. Muhith admitted that the government's food storage capacity remained insufficient compared to requirement, and said that steps would be taken up to expand the capacity of the government food godowns. He said that the government targeted a stock of 1.4 million tonnes of food grains. But, some knowledgeable people suggest that food grain security stock should be maintained at 2.00 million tonnes. They refer to the situation in 2007-2008, when the government faced difficulty in importing rice due to the restrictions imposed by most of the rice exporting countries, which resulted from the worldwide shortage of food grains and very high prices in the international markets.
The goal of the National Food Policy, 2006 is to ensure a dependable food security system for all people of the country at all times. The food policy aims at ensuring adequate and stable supply of safe and nutritious food; enhancing the purchasing power of the people for increased food accessibility; and ensuring adequate nutrition for all (especially for women and children). The National Food Policy Plan of Action launched on May 28 this year contains detailed objectives to improve food availability, access to food, and nutrition. The plan lays special emphasis on improving public sector food stock management, enhancing storage facilities, and effective operation of open market sales.
It is a fact that food grain production has trebled since independence. But a comparison of annual domestic food grain production rate and annual population growth rate shows that the growth rate of population is higher than the growth rate of food grain production rate. According to various studies, the projections of Bangladesh's population growth are indeed worrisome. The population will double to 280 million at the current rate of growth by 2080 and reach 180 million as early as 2020. So, the challenge for this country in this area is obvious.
In view of what has been stated above, the need for constructing more government food godowns for increasing food grain storage capacity can hardly be over-emphasised. The earlier it is done, the better it will be for the food security of the country.

M. Abdul Latif Mondal is a former Secretary, Ministry of Food. E-mail: [email protected]