http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-04-02-voa16.cfm?renderforprint=1&textonly=1&&TEXTMODE=1&CFID=235419911&CFTOKEN=59728164
Voice Of America News
02 April 2008
Bangladesh Struggles to Cope with Shortage of Affordable Food Staples
By Steve Herman
Bangladesh is seeking three million tons of rice and wheat, in the
next several months, to counter the lingering effects of a devastating
cyclone amid soaring prices for staple foods. VOA Correspondent Steve
Herman, in our South Asia bureau in New Delhi, re****ts Bangladesh is
hoping purchases from India and donations from the United States will
meet some of the pressing demand.
Woman stands near home in southern Bangladesh damaged by cyclone, 20
Nov 2007
Bangladesh is confronting a double blow, as it attempts to feed its
impoverished people. Damage from Cyclone Sidr, five months ago, has
destroyed this year's staple food harvest. What is available is
quickly becoming less affordable.
Government officials say they will need an additional three million
tons of rice and wheat in the next three months. They say they hope to
buy some of the rice from India, at $430 per ton, and sell it in the
market below cost. That is expected to triple the amount of subsidized
rice in government-run shops in the country.
There are re****ts that those who can afford rice in Bangladesh are
hoarding it, worried about further price increases.
The United States is to donate 90,000 metric tons of food this year,
worth nearly $70 million.
U.S. Agency for International Development Mission Director Denise
Rollins says one third of that will go to those affected by the
cyclone.
"The people who are most affected by the cyclone they typically have
only one cropping season a year. And, that crop was ready to be
harvested when the cyclone hit. So it was completely destroyed."
The American food aid will include wheat, yellow split peas and
vegetable oil.
Rising food prices, which are affecting much of Asia this year, are
particularly troublesome for the people of Bangladesh. Nearly half of
the population lives on less than one dollar a day and spends most of
its income on food.
USAID Bangladesh Mission Director Rollins says the situation has
become even more critical for those hit by floods last July and August
and last November's cyclone.
"There's no employment. There's no livelihoods that have returned.
Most people are involved in agriculture. Without the farms operating
now, because you don't have a crop in the field, it means people are
unable to work and so, with rising prices for basic commodities, it
means people are eating considerably less.
The combination of rocketing prices and unemployment has given rise to
what Bangladesh's former finance secretary, Akbar Ali Khan, terms a
"silent famine" in the country.
The United Nations last month urged the developed world to boost food
and monetary aid to Bangladesh.
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