The New Nation - Internet Edition

Mohammad Shahidul Islam

Climate change is setting to trigger cyclones, droughts, heavy rains and floods in unpredicted places at unpredicted times round the world. Recently Myanmar has been the victim of climate change. This in turn keeps affecting food production. Consequently there is prevailing food shortage for the poor, the down-trodden, those who are affected by wars of life and livelihood. So what is the way out to face climate change?

We, as a global neighborhood, should continue to exist, share the new techniques to grow more food. Immediately what all the nations of the world should do is to counterfeit economic links on a regional basis, assess the demand and supply of essential food products in those regions and start moving towards producing more and more essential foods by encouraging youngsters to get interested in agriculture and food production.

There is an overwhelming imbalance between the specialization of technology based education and the agro-industry based education. What the love of the land brings for food production has been erased off with the large scale, extensive, mechanized farming methods. Together with this, small scale farming and the bond between the land and man should be counterfeited for the better performance in food production.

The food that is produced in countries that have food shortages should be distributed within the country before the production is exported elsewhere. There are instances and experiences of farmers going without enough rice and fishermen going without enough fish for their families because these are exported for the consumption of unknown people in unknown countries.

It is a heartbreaking blunder that we failed to conserve our own important crops. Rice, estimated by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization as the world's second most consumed food, is our staple diet. But potatoes and many other imported food items are also in demand now. The colonized local cuisine has been making things really difficult for the masses.

Rice is the staple food of Bangladesh and many Asian countries. Today a kilo of rice is priced at BDT 35 to 50/- why can't our peasants get a huge income as a big demand is there for rice in Bangladesh? So, immediate measures should be taken to give the pride of place to agriculture which helped Bangladesh become the granary of South Asia like the golden era when Sayasta Khan ruled over this beautiful country.

Though foreign employment, garments and telecommunication have become major sectors that contribute enormously for the economy of Bangladesh, the fact that agriculture was the back bone of our economy should not be forgotten or ignored.

There are many reasons why agriculture should get back its due place in Bangladesh. First and foremost, Bangladesh is ideally suitable for cultivation in terms of geography.

The country has got many places where different climatic conditions help crops such as paddy to grow luxuriantly. Secondly we Bangladeshis have got the habit of consuming rice for many centuries. "A hungry man is an angry man" this axiom clearly points out that it is futile to talk about anything when a person is hungry. Development and prosperity are compelled to be kept on the back burner when a nation faces a crisis.

The whole world in general and the Asia in particular are inching towards beckoning the famine. Therefore it is high time meaningful steps were taken to make this country self sufficient in the field of food which is one of the basic needs of the human beings.

The program like "Let us grow crops to develop Bangladesh" should be implemented right away and should get the full support of every one. Competitions in the field of cultivation at village, thana and district level could be organized to encourage more participation of the general public. This will indeed help increase the food production in the country.

It is pertinent to know the real causes of this food crisis which has affected not only Bangladesh but also many nations in the world. Some of them are beyond our control while others can be controlled if all of us work collectively.

One of the biggest barriers that makes a massive contribution for this crisis is fuel. The Price of petroleum keeps on escalating.

No country can confront this menace which holds back the development of the world. Hence only things that can be done by us are cutting wastage and using cheaper types of energy.