http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/7383859.stm
Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2008/05/05 10:23:17 GMT
Bangladesh companies in food move
By Mark Dummett
Factory owners in Bangladesh have started distributing subsidised food
to thousands of their lowest paid workers.
Recent price rises have forced many Bangladeshis to reduce the amount
they eat each day.
There have been a series of protests at garment factories in recent
weeks over the rising cost of living.
Bangladesh is suffering from its worst food crisis in years, after the
cost of its staple food, rice, doubled in the past 12 months.
Cheaper
Bangladesh's garment factories are the mainstay of the economy .
They account for three quarters of the country's export earnings and
brought in more than $9bn last year.
They make cheap clothes for many of the world's most famous brands and
largest retail chains, such as Walmart, Tesco and Carrefour.
Despite competition from China and India, the industry here is
growing.
Fears that food price rises could disrupt this growth have prompted
one of the main trade organisations to start selling cheap food to its
workers.
Fazlul Haq, the president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and
Exporters Association, told me that they hope to help feed 200,000
people, out of a total workforce of about 800,000.
Each will receive four kgs of rice a week, for two-thirds of the
market price. Similar government schemes have proved immensely
popular, but the factory workers have not all been able to benefit
from them as the government shops are only open during working hours.
It is estimated that most workers now spend about 70% of their
earnings on food.
The minimum wage is $25 a month, while a kilogram of rice, which is
enough to feed a family of four for one day, costs 50 cents.
Many Bangladeshis say they now no longer eat lunch and most can no
longer afford to eat meat, fish or eggs.
But the government says that the situation will soon improve.
Farmers are beginning to harvest Bangladesh's main rice crop and the
country has received some good news from the US which says it is to
donate $40m in food aid.
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