The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Speakers at a seminar yesterday said the society should pay the due recognition of the contribution of rural women to the agriculture, for they are providing food. They said though security of food is a basic right of people, it is still being considered as commercial commodity.

The seminar on 'Right to Food: Rural Women Produce and Provide" was held at the National Press Club marking the 'World Rural Women Day.' National Committee for Observance of the World Rural Women Day and Equity and Justice Working Group jointly organised the seminar. Bazlur Rahman presided over it.

Dr Abdus Sobhan, Dr MA Sattar Mondal, Dr.Abdur Razzak, Dr. Tofail Ahmed, Dr, Zafarullah Chowdhury, Rezaul Karim Rana among others were present at the seminar. Mohammad Shamsudaha presented the keynote paper. The seminar was informed that about 63 million people of the country were under food-based poverty line and about 70 per cent families exhaust their total income on food.

Mentioning the disparity in land ownership, the keynote paper said, about 6.7 per cent families own 44 per cent cultivable lands while 93.7 per cent families own the rest 56 per cent lands.

Each day, 220 hectares of lands are going beyond the range of agriculture, which is a threat to future food security.

In this situation it would be difficult for farmers and rural women to sustain, the speakers said. Women who were involved in agricultural work are deprived of food security. Their contribution is always considered as hidden economy.