Speakers at a webinar on Tuesday stressed to have comprehensive planning so that the future large scale food deprivation and nutrition insecurity can be prevented
They also said it is necessary to involve mass people and the experts from the relevant sector along with the bureaucratsin the policy making procedure.
The webinar was organized by the Centre for Governance Studies (CGS) and supported by the United Nations Development Programme with an aim to release Policy Brief under the titled “Searching Ways Forward for Bangladesh in the Time of Pandemic: Food and Nutrition Security in Postpandemic Bangladesh.”
Economist Dr. Asaduzzaman presented keynote paper in the webinar while Md. Abdul WadudDara, Former Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee, Ministry of Food; Md. Harunur Rashid MP, Joint Secretary General, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Barrister ShamimHaiderPatwary MP, Additional Secretary & Presidium Member, Jatiya Party were present as the speakers of the webinar.
The webinar was hosted by the executive director of CGS, ZillurRahman.
D. Asaduzzamanin his presentation, came up with his analysis and recommendations regarding the food and nutrition.
He mainly focused on three areas, one is the excessive use and waste of groundwater. Secondly, the high price and labor crisis in agricultural activities and thirdly, the complexity in marketization of agricultural products.
He suggested to take immediate efforts to tackle the issues.
In the webinar, Md. Abdul WadudDara has appreciated the efforts of the government and said if financial institutions run on the proper process, food scarcity might reduce in future.
Barrister ShamimHaiderPatwary said, for the lack of consumption, several sectors related to food might get wiped out. Regarding this, he suggested to research where the consumption might increase and decrease in the post-pandemic era. Md. Harunur Rashid was accusing that, the experiences that have been gathered through visiting other countries are not implementing properly in our policy discussion. He also expressed his concern on improper product marketization, and emphasizes the need for cooperative management in that case.
