Food Security and Nutrition in Bangladesh: Progress and Determinants

For Bangladesh food security was synonymous with achieving self-sufficiency in rice production and stabilization in rice prices. The country has made good progress in increasing rice production through technological progress, facilitated by private sector investment in small scale irrigation. But, it is difficult to sustain the progress made in view of the growing pressure of population on scarce land resources. Domestic food grain production remains susceptible to floods and droughts thereby perpetuating the threat of major production shortfalls, inadequate food availability, and vulnerability from fluctuation in prices. The availability of other foods has not increased, and the progress in nutritional outcome has remained slow. Forty percent of the population lives below the poverty line, and income inequality has been worsening. This paper assesses the trends in factors that affect food production, availability of food and their impact on nutrition outcomes. It also probes into the trends in poverty and distribution of income and access to food through markets.Bangladesh, food security, nutrition, poverty, safety nets, natural disasters, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty,

Towards Sustainable Cities: Lessons from Urban Decentralization in India and Bangladesh

Fiscal and financial management in South Asian cities typically face constraints in capacity and utilization of resources. This paper attempts a systematic analysis of three corporations in the region: the Indian city of Kolkata (Kolkata Municipal Corporation, KMC) and the city corporations in Bangladesh’s capital city, Dhaka (Dhaka North City Corporation, DNCC, and Dhaka South City Corporation, DSCC). Based on the incomes and expenditures of these corporations, this paper attempts for the first time a comparison in the status of finances and service delivery in cities of two South Asian Countries. The main findings suggest that the revenue receipts of KMC is significantly higher than that of either DNCC or DSCC or even both the bodies combined. This is true for own revenue as well as for grants from the upper tiers. Both DNCC and DSCC have expenses, which are way below the low level of existing earnings. These expenses are less when compared with international expenditure norms also. For KMC the revenue is not sufficient to cover the expenditures. For DNCC and DSCC, levels of expenditures on provision of urban services are abysmally low, which is also reflected in the status of service delivery in these cities. Property tax accounts for the lion’s share of the tax revenue in both Kolkata and Dhaka. For Dhaka, non-tax revenues obtained from fees, fines, rates, etc. have a higher share in own revenue, while Kolkata has higher shares of taxes. Interestingly, despite the low revenue generation capacity of the DNCC and DSCC, this is what comprises the bulk of total revenue. Grants received from the upper tiers are very low in DNCC and DSCC compared to the fact that close to half of KMC’s total revenue comes from grants. We also estimated the GCP for Dhaka and Kolkata and did some simulation exercises for estimating the revenue capacities. Based on these exercises, we suggest that KMC should generate up to 4 percent of their GCP as revenues for the corporation. For Dhaka, 1 percent of GCP as revenues in both DNCC and DSCC are estimated as their potentials

How cost-effective is biofortification in combating micronutrient malnutrition?: An ex-ante assessment

"Biofortification is increasingly seen as an additional tool to combat micronutrient malnutrition. This paper presents, for the first time, evidence on the costs and potential benefits of biofortification for a large number of countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. We use a modification of the Disability-Adjusted Life Years framework to conclude that the intervention can make a significant impact on the burden of micronutrient deficiencies in the developing world, and can do so in a highly cost-effective manner." Authors' AbstractGeneral Biofortification, Cost-effectiveness, Micronutrient malnutrition,

How nutrition-friendly are agriculture and health policies in Bangladesh?

PRIFPRI3; ISI; CRP4PHND; A4NHCGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH

Food Security and Nutrition in Bangladesh: Progress and Determinants

For Bangladesh food security was synonymous with achieving self-sufficiency in rice production and stabilization in rice prices. The country has made good progress in increasing rice production through technological progress, facilitated by private sector investment in small scale irrigation. But, it is difficult to sustain the progress made in view of the growing pressure of population on scarce land resources. Domestic food grain production remains susceptible to floods and droughts thereby perpetuating the threat of major production shortfalls, inadequate food availability, and vulnerability from fluctuation in prices. The availability of other foods has not increased, and the progress in nutritional outcome has remained slow. Forty percent of the population lives below the poverty line, and income inequality has been worsening. This paper assesses the trends in factors that affect food production, availability of food and their impact on nutrition outcomes. It also probes into the trends in poverty and distribution of income and access to food through markets.Bangladesh, food security, nutrition, poverty, safety nets, natural disasters

Food Security and Nutrition in Bangladesh: Progress and Determinants

For Bangladesh food security was synonymous with achieving self-sufficiency in rice production and stabilization in rice prices. The country has made good progress in increasing rice production through technological progress, facilitated by private sector investment in small scale irrigation. But, it is difficult to sustain the progress made in view of the growing pressure of population on scarce land resources. Domestic food grain production remains susceptible to floods and droughts thereby perpetuating the threat of major production shortfalls, inadequate food availability, and vulnerability from fluctuation in prices. The availability of other foods has not increased, and the progress in nutritional outcome has remained slow. Forty percent of the population lives below the poverty line, and income inequality has been worsening. This paper assesses the trends in factors that affect food production, availability of food and their impact on nutrition outcomes. It also probes into the trends in poverty and distribution of income and access to food through markets

Seeding the future: Accelerating seed system development in Bangladesh

Evidence accumulated from many developing countries during the past 50 years has demonstrated that yield-enhancing cultivars are vital inputs to sustained agricultural productivity growth, particularly in land-scarce countries where yield growth can only be achieved through intensification (Evenson and Gollin 2003). But sustained productivity growth requires more than just strong scientific expertise and good plant breeding programs. It also requires a modern seed system that has the capacity and infrastructure to multiply, popularize, and distribute these cultivars. And while there are many different designs for a modern seed system, they all share one commonality—they shift seed use practices away from traditional approaches in which farmers select, save, and exchange seeds, to a system that integrates traditional approaches with modern science, public investment, and market signals to provide farmers with more systematic access to improved cultivars and quality seed. Necessarily, this shift also means that seed becomes an economic commodity: it becomes the embodiment of innovative effort undertaken by plant breeders, entrepreneurs, sales representatives, and farmers, across whom the gains from innovation must be distributed in a manner that encourages continuous production and further innovation. It is the role of the policymaker to develop policies that encourage both production and innovation to benefit society.Non-PRIFPRI4; PRSSP; CRP2; DCADSGD; PIMCGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM

MQSUN Report: Impact Evaluation of the DFID Programme to Accelerate Improved Nutrition for the Extreme Poor in Bangladesh

The DFID Programme to Accelerate Improved Nutrition for the Extreme Poor in Bangladesh aims to improve nutrition outcomes for young children, pregnant and lactating mothers, and adolescent girls. Its approach is to integrate direct nutrition interventions into the livelihood support currently provided to extremely poor households in Bangladesh through three existing programmes: the Chars Livelihoods Programme (CLP), the Shiree Economic Empowerment of the Poorest Programme (Shiree or EEP, within which we focus on the Concern subproject), and the Urban Partnership for Poverty Reduction Programme (UPPR). In order to rigorously and independently assess the impacts of these integrated nutrition and livelihoods programmes, DFID has collaborated with research partners and implementation partners to undertake a mixed methods impact evaluation, entitled “Impact Evaluation of the DFID Programme to Accelerate Improved Nutrition for the Extreme Poor in Bangladesh.” The evaluation team includes IDS (the lead organisation), IFPRI, ITAD, CNRS, and BRAC University. The evaluation uses mixed quantitative and qualitative methods within a strong theory-based design to assess the impacts of the integrated programmes on nutritional status