Better late than never, recent attempts at improving nutritional status of the people of Bangladesh by all stakeholders deserve admiration. From the supply-side point of view, especially of rice-led calories, the country has possibly done pretty well by tripling food production since the 1970s. The Green Revolution associated with agricultural and commercial policy changes over time played a pivotal role.
Shenggen Fan, Director General of International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), recently paid a visit to Bangladesh. During his stay in Dhaka, he spoke on 'Accelerating progress to end hunger and nutrition' in the world at large and particularly in Bangladesh. It needs to be mentioned that his observations pertaining to nutritional trends and challenges would help policy makers and researchers. It is more so perhaps in the wake of challenges for ensuring food security and nutrition which are likely to arise from: rising middle class, urbanisation, changing diets, climate change, extreme weather conditions, agriculture-related risks, increasing land and water constraints, growing inequality etc.
Disconcertingly, after a soothing slide over few years, global hunger is projected to rise in terms of both number and prevalence (percentage) of undernourishment. One specific example shows that in 2000, about 15 per cent of people in the world were undernourished which slightly slowed down to about 11 per cent in 2015. Unfortunately, the most recent trend from 2016 appears to depict an upward movement. That is-- from 900 million undernourished people in 2000, the number came down to roughly 800 million in 2015. Thus on both counts, 2015 seems to be the turn-around point. The second observation by Fan is that despite progress around the world, child undernutrition persists, albeit pervasively. Particularly in Asia, prevalence of under-5 child-stunting remains to be one-fourth in 2016 falling from one-third in 2005. At global level, the share seems to be about 23 and 30 respectively. Thus, the absolute level is worrying although the situation has improved over a span of one decade or so. The most important of Fan's findings is the notion of 'hidden hunger' in Bangladesh context where, as per his estimates, 44 per cent of women are found anemic and 30 per cent children under chronic micronutrient deficiencies.
Shenggen Fan is of the view that a country like Bangladesh has appreciably reduced malnutrition but the progress is slow. In other words, Bangladesh has to accelerate the speed of the progress if she has to witness the end of hunger and undernutrition by the next decade (2025). In an accelerated mode, prevalence of undernourishment in Bangladesh should be a little over 5.0 per cent by 2025 from 15 per cent in, say, 2015. But under a 'Business as usual scenario', undernutrition rate would hover around 13 per cent. Likewise, prevalence of under-5 child-stunting in Bangladesh would reach from 36 per cent in 2015 to 5 and 23 per cent respectively under accelerated and as-usual scenario.
He then unpacks the determinants of undernutrition, especially child stunting in Bangladesh. Quiet obviously, there are plenty of factors such as household assets, maternal schooling, open defecation, paternal schooling, fertility and health care that contribute to a rise in stunting of children. Although malnutrition is a multi-dimensional problem, household assets and maternal schooling appear to be the most prominent factors.
There are a few concrete recommendations from the Washington-based IFPRI boss to end hunger and malnutrition in Bangladesh: (a) invest in agriculture R & D to produce more with less. It would indicate raising land productivity through adoption of high yielding varieties; (b) fix the fundamentals: marketing, infrastructure so that farmers could reap home a better return from producing perishable products; (c) empower women in agriculture through providing incentives to homestead-grown agricultural activities; (d) transform small holder agriculture with a change in mind set when most of the farmers are small holders. In almost all countries, particularly in Bangladesh, this segment of farmers needs special credit and extension facilities; and (e) support efficient, inclusive value chain with a sharp eye on the horticultural crops.
Drawing upon a South-South learning workshop in Bangkok, Shenggen Fan suggest a few key points to promote nutritional improvement: (a) nutrition efforts must be country-driven; (b) research is critical in producing knowledge and policy advice for government; (c) community-led mobilisation supported by modern technologies can improve tracking at all levels; (d) given the right policy environment, the private sector can help the government.
It is heartening to note that Bangladesh has been striving hard to improve nutritional situation of people, especially of children but equally disheartening is the fact that the pace of progress is not fast enough. There is still the lack of effective coordination among line ministries as far as nutritional issues are concerned. "Who is to bell the cat" or "who is to lead the march to nutrition" still seem to be the order of the day. An unhealthy and malnourished environment could jeopardise all good intentions of the government. In line with the SDG goals, Bangladesh should immediately embark on a highly committed pursuit to achieve overall nutritional improvement of its citizens. Unless it can build on a well-nourished and healthy manpower, the future socio-economic progress of the country could face serious constraints. Finally, needless to mention, the Ministry of Agriculture has a much bigger role to play in the realm of nutrition through ensuring crop diversification by twisting price and incentive polices.
The writer is a former Professor of Economics at Jahangirnagar Unievrsity.abdul.