As the world observed World Food Day on October 16 under the theme, “Hand in Hand for Better Foods and a Better Future”, its resonance echoes in Bangladesh. It is a day to both celebrate progress and confront ongoing challenges in the global fight against hunger. Without ensuring safe food for all health sector is bound to degenerate into a hopeless fiasco. While the nation has undoubtedly achieved considerable milestone in food production since independence in 1971, the pace of progress has been enough.
Yet, while we cannot dismiss our successes, the challenge of malnutrition remains pervasive and has intensified in recent times due to persistent inflation and high prices of essentials. Besides, safe food production is the most critical and challenging reality in Bangladesh. The South East Asian region, including Bangladesh, accounts for a tragic 175,000 annual fatalities for foodborne illness. An alarming trend is that pesticide use in Bangladesh has soared excessively. According to a survey, 64 percent of cancer patients in the country are farmers, largely because of unsafe and indiscriminate pesticide application practices. According to some nutritionists, 30-40 percent of marketed vegetables in Bangladesh contain high pesticide residue levels and fruits 8-10 percent of pesticide residue.
Beyond pesticides, dangerous heavy metals, like arsenic, lead, cadmium, and para-sulfur, have been found in vegetables in some areas of the country. The ingestion of these toxic chemicals can cause long-term health risks, including kidney disease, neurological disorders, and cancer. According to experts, access to food has not increased in pace with the spike in food production. The increased production has come at a cost. Production has increased through the use of pesticides and chemical fartilisers. This makes the food unsafe. So, food security and safety have not been ensured even after the increase in production.
Access to food has reduced for many because of high food inflation in the last four to five years. As a result, poverty has increased and about 31 percent of the population in Bangladesh is food insecure. Persistently high inflation eroded purchasing power across households, but the impact was the sharpest for low-paid workers, whose real wages fell in 2025. Food security for ultra-poor needs legal support for getting necessary food and essential nutrients. The target of achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) may be a nugatory idea or an intractable task by keeping crores of people struggling for enough nutriments. To effect the recipe for food security for all, a legal framework should be formulated to ensure the rights of food and nutrition of the poor and the ultra-poor. The country has achieved crop cornucopia indeed; what we need now is a legal framework to ensure that all people get supply of necessary and safe food.
It is a matter of hope that the government has launched a five-year programme to promote safe crop production through the Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) certification scheme. This initiative aims to train approximately 10 lakh farmers and 14,000 sub assistant agricultural officers. GAP aims to train farmers to prevent contamination, ensure food safety, and promote sustainable and ethical practices in agriculture for safe food production. To successfully end malnutrition is a never-ending efforts, and the authorities must continue to invest in our agriculture for safe food. Moreover, there is also the need to control inflation so that healthy food is within the reach of our people.
