The Rohingya refugee crisis and increased restrictions by the developed nations on immigration into their countries threaten the food security in Bangladesh, speakers said at a food policy discussion on Thursday.
The International Food Policy Research Institute held the discussion on the eve of launching its Global Food Policy Report 2008 at a Dhaka hotel in the morning.
‘Building accommodation for Rohingyas required removal of top soil on a vast area of land in the Cox’s Bazar,’ said Centre for Policy Dialogue executive director Fahmida Khatun.
She said that the loss of top soil would have an impact on agricultural production and it would take a long time to repair the damage.
Her comment came in response to the global food policy report outcome drawing a relation between food security, conflict and migration.
The report suggested that purchasing capacity of people living in the area receiving a large refugee influx could fall rapidly.
It cited a research that showed how Syrian refugees in Turkey displaced natives from works in informal sector.
In another example, the report said wages in peaceful cities in Colombia fell drastically after internally displaced people from violence-torn cities turned up there.
On the other hand, the report said there were studies linking income of a migrant to changing the food consumption practice of his or her family back home.
Both the migrant and his or her family get access to more and nutritious food, it said.
But the situation is challenged with developing nations making immigration to the countries more restricted than in the past, said the report.
IFPRI country representative Akhter Ahmed said remittances sent back home by Bangladeshi expatriates hit all time low in five years in 2017.
The IFPRI is also concerned by a rise in anti-globalisation movement around the world.
The US withdrawal from multilateral trade and climate agreement and the UK’s Brexit from the European Union are examples of a rise in isolationism and protectionism which will not help the global movement to eliminate hunger, said IFPRI.
IFPRI director general Shenggen Fan said the prevalence of hunger increased in 2017 amid continued economic and agricultural growth.
‘As many as 124 million people are at risk of food insecurity across the globe,’ said Shenggen.
Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, prime minister’s economic affairs adviser Mashiur Rahman, former caretaker government adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman, former vice chancellor of Bangladesh agricultural university MA Sattar Mandal, Krishi Gobeshona Foundation executive director Wais Kabir, and Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies senior research fellow Nazneen Ahmed took part in the discussion.
This article was originally published in The Daily New Age on 04 May 2017.