2009 brings new challenges to the pursuit of food security in Bangladesh.
Over the course of 2007 and 2008, the increase in prices of basic food commodities and fuel exposed the poorest segments of society to severe pressure.
An additional 7.5 million people joined the ranks of the hungry, largely as a result of high food prices, bringing the number of people who consume less than the minimum daily recommended amount of food to 65 million, or 45% of the population.
The depth of food insecurity has also worsened. Food expenditures are increasingly dominating household budgets, the poor are consuming even less than before and the quality of their diet has deteriorated further.
To cope, the poor have fallen into an even deeper spiral of debt, from which it will take many months to recover. A heavy impact on school enrolment, attendance and dropout was already visible by mid 2008.
The impact of high food prices will be particularly acute in the lean seasons occurring in September-November (such as the monga period in the Northwest of the country) and in March-April, due to a chronic lack of employment opportunities for an ultra-poor population whose main livelihood is agricultural or day labour.
Nonetheless, the negative effects of high food prices will be acutely felt by the poor throughout the whole of 2009.
High food prices are worsening an already precarious nutritional situation. Nationally, nearly half of under-5 children are moderately to severely underweight and 36% suffer from moderate to severe stunting (chronic malnutrition).
The rates of wasting (acute malnutrition) increased from 13% in 2004 to 16% in 2007. This is above the World Health Organisation emergency threshold.
According to the Poverty Reduction Strategy of the Government of Bangladesh, the key elements in the fight against hunger include improving food security, tackling malnutrition, reducing disparities in income, education and gender, and protection against inevitable shocks.
Based on these priorities, WFP's aim is to contribute towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals by improving the food security, nutritional well-being and livelihoods of ultra poor households.
WFP has been assisting the poorest people of Bangladesh since 1974 and has distributed 14.6 million tons of food over the past 34 years and has been at the forefront of responding to malnutrition and food insecurity, helping communities reduce the risks associated with climate change, in particular floods and cyclones.
WFP has a strong track record of partnering with the Government of Bangladesh on climate change adaptation. Over the past 30 years:
In 2008, WFP assisted 7 million vulnerable people, essentially women and children, and distributed 161,630 metric tons of food.
In 2009, WFP plans to assist 10 million beneficiaries at an estimated cost of US$ 215 million.
WFP Bangladesh has six field offices situated across the country and during 2007/8 WFP set up two new offices in Barisal and Bagerhat to respond to Cyclone Sidr.
