Challenges of global rice security

Rayhan Ahmed Topader :
Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries in the world with a population of over 160 million and a projected population, based on current growth trends, of well over 200 million by 2050. This demographic burden places tremendous economic, social and environmental strain on the country and dramatically affects its ability to provide for its citizens. This is particularly true in the area of food security roughly half of Bangladeshis are unable to access sufficient food to meet their dietary needs. USAID partners with the Government of Bangladesh to improve the availability and access to nutritious, domestically produced foods. The U.S. Government’s Feed the Future activities improve productivity and agricultural diversity in targeted areas of southern Bangladesh and accelerate private sector competitiveness by promoting economic growth, good corporate practices and supply chain development to benefit poor farmers and businesses. This mega event was organised by IRRI, hosted by Singapore from 15-17 October. The Fifth international Rice Congress 2018 ended with the hope for hunger-free world by 2030. The theme of the three-day world’s largest rice science conference was ‘Transformative science for food and nutrition security’. This mega event is often regarded as ‘Olympic of Rice Science’. Around 1,500 rice scientists, professionals, value chain actors, representa tives from international organisations, journalists, and rice farmers from 40 countries congregated in this global congress.
Laurence Wong, Minister for National Development, Singapore inaugurated the grand ceremony. A series of discussion, policy dialogue, scientific paper presentation and debate was held on status, success and future challenges of global rice security.The 5th International Rice Congress 2018 provided a springboard for meaningful discussions on the policies, innovations, and partnerships that can drive the growth of an equitable global rice sector. The congress was attended by FAO Assistant Director-General Ms. Kundhavi Kadiresan, IFAD president Gilbert F Houngbo, Director General of IRRI Dr. Mathew Morell, father of hybrid rice Prof. Yuan Longping, UN representative, and global celebrity in agriculture and food security sector. Delegates from Bangladesh attended different scientific session and discussion and put their valuable insight on status and challenges of rice security in Bangladesh. For Bangladesh and other Asian rice-growing countries, this congress was very significant as 91 per cent of the world’s rice is produced in this region. A global consensus has been made for sustainable rice systems to ensure global food security. In Bangladesh, rice market, distribution, and price are more sensitive due to over reliance on rice as a staple food crop. The domestic and international rice market is expected to be affected by climatic extreme events. In 2017 Bangladesh experienced 350 mm rainfall in April causing a flash flood in haor. This unusual climatic event destabilised the rice market and supply and increased the domestic retail price of rice by 55 per cent.
Eventually, the Bangladesh government had to import 3.6 million tons of rice from international markets to stabilise price and supply. This is the highest ever rice import in the last 32 years from the Fiscal Year 1985-86 Among staple foods, the price of rice in the international market more volatile. Rice is always more expensive cereal compared to wheat and maize. International market price of one metric ton of rice is US$ 400-550, wheat is US$ 200-230, and maize price is US$ 150-180. Around 30 per cent price increase of rice is expected by the next two decades.Rice price is very crucial strategic and political issue. Balancing of price between producer and consumers is still a difficult task for the government. Consumers always want to buy rice with minimum affordable price if even production cost increases. Again successive political government tries to keep rice price less to win the heart of the voters. Rice farmers have criminally been deceived of having the fair price of rice for the last couple of decades. Rice is grown by 144 million farm families in the world. Annually 470 million metric tons of milled rice is produced from 158 million hectares of rice field (8 per cent of the world’s cropland). Bangladesh’s share in the rice world is 7.5 per cent. Bangladesh is the fourth largest producer and consumer of rice after China, India, and Indonesia. As 70 per cent of caloric requirement and 56 per cent of protein intake comes from rice, Bangladesh is often branded as country of rice.
Our culture and heritage is deeply rooted in rice. Rice is often considered to be a political and strategic commodity because of its convincing socio-economic, cultural, and political importance. Rice alone contributes 46 per cent of crop GDP and 5 per cent of overall GDP. Bangladesh ranks first in per capita rice consumption (172 kg/year). With changing food habit and crop diversification per capita consumption is decreasing gradually, however, rice will remain the foundation of Asian diets, especially for the poor. Rice economy of Bangladesh has been facing different agronomic, socio-economic, climatic, political and market-related challenges. Ever decreasing rice area is a pressing concern for rice security. Due to the commercialisation of agriculture rice farmers have been moving towards more profitable vegetables, spice or fruits cultivation. Coastal rice farming has been especially threatened by salinity, climate change, and shrimp farming. In Bangladesh, Boro rice is the main pillar of rice economy as it contributes 56 of total rice. Boro rice cultivation has been facing multidimensional challenges ahead. Availability of ground water for irrigated Boro rice is getting scarce due to climatic change. Irrigated Boro rice alone consumes 500 billion cubic meters of water annually. To produce one kilogram of Boro rice 3,500-4,000 litres of irrigation water is required. Time has come to reconsider this water-luxuriant rice farming. The continuous drawdown of groundwater table has already signalled Boro rice farmers and policymaker negatively.
The growth of mechanisation is slow in Bangladesh. Tillage operation has been fully mechanised with power-driven tiller implements. However, rice transplanting, weeding, harvesting is still manual. Rice farming will face a serious setback if we fail to mechanise whole farming operations. Thousands of years old rice heritage in Bangladesh is at a crossroad as this prominent occupation is losing popularity among young generation. For profitability and commercialisation rice farmers have been quitting their ancestral occupation. We should listen to the grievance of rice farmers to keep them with rice farming for our better tomorrow. For sustainable rice system cutting-edge research, climate-smart agronomic practices, efficient rice market, and strong rice value chain have been suggested the Congress. To sustain future rice security immediate policy responses, institutional arrangements, huge resource mobilisation innovative research, efficient extension services, global partnerships, farmers’ access to finance and enhanced capacity is imperative. It’s time to think about the rice security issue critically. This study examines the impact of agricultural credit on rice production and food security of the farm households in Bangladesh. A sample size of 50 households was selected purposively from two villages that were getting agricultural credit from Bangladesh Krishi Bank. Data were collected through field survey by using pre-designed and pre-tested questionnaire.
The national average yield of rice is 2.92 t/ha, which is still lower than other major rice producing countries. The declining yield growth of rice has been of major concern for the future rice security in Bangladesh.Rising demand for premium quality fine rice is increasing sharply. Even a street beggar doesn’t want to consume coarse rice. The average yield of premium quality fine rice is lower than coarse grain rice. After the green revolution producing more rice was the main challenge. Now producing fine rice is another challenge. Consumer preference has a strong impact on the rice market. Cultivation of micronutrient fortified rice to ensure nutrition security has got special attention in the scientific discussion in the Congress. Acute shortage of farm labour has emerged as a pressing concern for rice farming in Bangladesh. Due to the diversified occupation option, farm labour has been opting for other suitable jobs. Multiple regression analyses were carried out to determine the impact of credit on rice production calorie intake in household and individual levels. It should extend agricultural loans to increase rice production and food security of rural poor households in Bangladesh.