Five-year research program launched here on Tuesday envisages integrating all aspects of food policy to enhance food security across Bangladesh. The Ministry of Food announced a new comprehensive food security research program jointly with the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
The new program, Bangladesh Integrated Food Policy Research Program, opens a new phase of addressing Bangladesh's food security, says a press release of IFPRI. It will combine policy research with capacity strengthening to tackle all four aspects of food security - availability, access, utilization, and stability - in a holistic and sustainable approach.
"Bangladesh is prone to natural disasters that can wipe out the country's supply of cereals if they are not properly stored," said Food Minister Qamrul Islam. "Government is committed to protecting the poor and vulnerable with the use of modern engineering and information technology as part of the Digital Bangladesh vision."
The Bangladesh Integrated Food Policy Research Program is designed to improve the food value chain, public food stocks, disaster responses, and price stabilization with state-of-the art methods and the application of effective digital technologies.
The program's cross-cutting research activities will focus on a full spectrum of food policy considerations - storage and transport, market and policy analysis, and capacity building and outreach. "
Sufficient cereal availability and rapid economic growth in most countries, including Bangladesh, has highlighted the need to upgrade the food policy architecture with modern technology and stronger institutions; so, it is crucial we use a sound analytical basis to build and manage the new policy architecture," said Dr Shahidur Rashid, Senior Research Fellow at IFPRI and the program's lead.
IFPRI-led consortium partners will build synergies with key government research institutes such as the Ministry of Food's Food Policy Monitoring Unit and the Directorate of Food, as well as the private sector.This program is a part of the Ministry of Food's Modern Food Storage Facilities Project, financed by the World Bank.
This report was first published in The Daily Asianage.