Food insecurity, poverty rise in Bangladesh: FAO

Bangladesh is suffering from severe localised food insecurity owing to economic constraints, refugee influx, floods and high prices of important food items, said Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in its latest report released on Friday. 

"Food insecurity as well as poverty levels has increased, due to income losses caused by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic," said the UN agency in its December issue of the "Crop Prospects and Food Situation".

Bangladesh is among 45 countries that require external assistance for food as they lack the resources to deal with reported critical problems of food insecurity, said the report.

Myanmar, Pakistan and Afghanistan also suffer from severe localized food insecurity in South and Southeast Asia, it said.

The disclosure comes at a time when food prices, particularly rice and wheat prices, remain at record levels along with other key commodities namely edible oil and sugar.

Bangladesh is among 45 countries that require external assistance for food as they lack the resources to deal with reported critical problems of food insecurity, the FAO says

Inflation remains elevated as increased prices of fuel pushed up prices of various other goods and services.

"Domestic prices of wheat flour and palm oil, important food items, were at high levels in October 2022," said the UN agency in its report.

About one million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar reside in the country, mainly in Cox's Bazar district and on the island of Bhasan Char. They are highly dependent on humanitarian assistance, it said.

"Floods from May to July affected a large number of people, causing deaths, damages and destruction to agricultural infrastructures as well as losses of livestock and food stocks," said the FAO in its quarterly global report.

The UN agency forecasts above-average outputs in 2022 in Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand as well as in Bangladesh, Cambodia and India among countries in the far east region as per its categorisation.

However, overall cereal outputs are forecast to decline year-on-year.

In Bangladesh, production of rice, wheat and maize might decline 0.4 per cent year-on-year to 62.3 million tonnes in the current year.

The FAO also forecast a one per cent drop in the production of paddy, the staple food, to 56.4 million tonnes in 2022. Production of wheat may increase along with imports, according to the report.