The New Nation - Internet Edition

A SAARC Food Bank may come into operation soon. Four SAARC members- Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have already ratified the declaration of the food bank. The rest four countries that is Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives and Afghanistan, of the regional grouping are probably to ratify the declaration soon. The decision to develop a food bank for the region was taken in April 2007 at the last summit of the SAARC. In view of the experience of food crisis in the region and other countries of the world since 2007 the decision to develop a food bank for the region was a prudent and farsighted one. The recent experience also has taught that if the decision was taken some years ago and implemented the region would not have suffered such a food crisis. It has now become an urgent task for the SAARC to establish the proposed food bank to store the targeted two million tonnes of cereal rice and wheat.

Food crisis has not remained confined only to the SAARC region. It has become a global problem for a host of reasons. In that backdrop, the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) has warned nations that food price globally will come down only a little and furthermore, very slowly. Hence, all nations of the world, especially the Third World ones have to be very careful. Analysts and forecasters are one that even if money is available food may not be available in the international market at the time of dire need.

SAARC is a relatively underdeveloped but most populous region in the world. So, accumulation of foodgrain reserve should be a topmost concern for the countries of the SAARC. During the last summit, held in India. it was thousand times pledged to be more active to protect the interest of the member countries. Now time has come to translate the promise into action.