About 60 million people in rural and urban areas of Bangladesh face food insecurity, and do not consume the minimal daily caloric intake required for a healthy life, according to the World Food Programme.

Almost one-third of all women of reproductive age in the country are extremely underweight, and the analogous condition is prevalent even in the wealthiest section of the society; reveal Unicef  data while another study by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations shows that 56 percent of all pre-school children are underweight.

Given such conditions, the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands will fund three projects in Bangladesh with Tk 150 crore in the next 3 to 4 years to improve food security and enhance nutrition and health security of the people.

The inaugural event of the three projects, titled 'Development Partnership between the Netherlands and Bangladesh: Food Security and Safety, Sexual and Reproductive Health', was held yesterday morning at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in the capital.

Of the two food security projects -- 'Krishi Utsho' and 'Making Market Work for Women (MMWW)', the first one will be implemented by CARE Bangladesh while the other one by ActionAid Bangladesh, and  an ongoing food safety project being implemented by FAO will be extended.

Being present as the programme's chief guest, Health Minister Md Nasim said, "Though we have achieved self-sufficiency in food, we could not provide food security to people".

 "With the projects, we want to contribute to the development of efficient and inclusive value chain to enable farmers to access quality seeds and other inputs, make agro-entrepreneurs and improve food safety", said Ambassador of the Netherlands to Bangladesh Leoni Margaretha Cuelenaere while delivering her welcome speech.

Anowarul Haq, director of Extreme Rural Poverty Programme of CARE Bangladesh, said 65000 smallholder farmers, including 26000 women, would be reached out under the Krishi Utsho project through 230 informal shops that sell products including seed and medicine for plants and animals needed by farmers.

The project would be carried out in six north-western and two southern districts of the country, he added.

Under the MMWW project which is expected to reach out 6002 agro-entrepreneurs, women entrepreneurs will be trained on nutrition, sexual and reproductive rights, behavioural change, leadership, business development and advocacy in two north-western districts and two south-western districts.

Mike Robson, FAO representative, said the poor food handling practices still remain as one of the major concerns in Bangladesh.

"Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IECDR) research reveals that contamination in street food is 90 percent", he said observing dearth of awareness among the people of the issue.

Meanwhile, recognising the role of female farmers, Farah Kabir, country director of ActionAid Bangladesh, underscored the importance of recognising their role in the country's agriculture.