People’s life depends on farmer and their activity. Farmers ensure people's food supply. But that farmer's house or family does not have the security of perfect meals a day. According to the government survey, 26.13 percent of the country's agricultural households are acutely food insecure. For this reason, they leave agriculture and turn to other professions. This information comes out in the survey titled Food Security Statistics-2023 published by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS). This report was published recently. Khana refers to members who cook and eat in the same pot.
Acute food insecurity in the survey refers to a high probability of reduced food intake and can lead to severe conditions such as malnutrition, including hunger. Not only farmers, 20.32 percent of service sector farms are in acute food crisis. 19.09 percent of industrial sector households, 21.85 percent of households engaged in other activities are food insecure.
Relatively better off are those with family members living abroad. Food insecurity is 18.91 percent in these families living on expatriate income. BBS Quarterly Labor Force Survey-2023 report for the fourth quarter (October-December) said 460,000 people left agriculture in the country in 2023. On the contrary, the employment of 3 lakh people in the industrial sector and 7 lakh people in the service sector has increased.
According to the report, currently 3 crore 15 lakh 52 thousand families are engaged in the agricultural sector, 2 crore 72 lakh 20 thousand in the service sector and 1 crore 22 lakh 40 thousand families in the industrial sector. In 2022, there were 3 crore 19 lakh 80 thousand in agriculture, 2 crore 65 lakh 20 thousand in services and 1 crore 19 lakh 70 thousand in industry. However, despite the decrease in the agricultural sector, the number of people employed in this sector is still high.
Abu Noman Faruq Ahmmed, Professor of Plant Pathology Department of Shere-Bangla Agricultural University, agreed many people are changing their profession because of the lack of security in agriculture.
BBS last released 'Agricultural Census-2019' survey in December 2022. It can be seen there, the amount of arable land has decreased by 4 lakh 16 thousand acres in 11 years. In 2008, the amount of arable land was 1 crore 90 lakh 97 thousand acres of land. In 2019, it decreased to 1 crore 86 lakh 81 thousand acres.
The survey highlights the category-wise data on food insecurity. It can be seen that the people of Rangpur are the most food insecure. 29.41 percent of families in this region are food insecure. The next location is Mymensingh 28.65 percent of families in this division are not food secure, 24.44 percent of families in Rajshahi division, 23.24 percent of Barisal division, 20.59 percent of Khulna division, 19.65 percent of Chittagong, 27.35 percent of families in Sylhet division are in food insecurity. The people of Dhaka division have the least food insecurity. The rate of insecure families in this category is 17.24 percent.
Dr. Kazi Md Rezaul Karim, professor of the Institute of Nutrition and Food Science of Dhaka University, said the price inflation is very high now. Even after earning, many people are not able to buy according to their needs due to high prices of products. This has created food insecurity.
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