Abstract
Food policies are significant in achieving the pillars of food security- food availability, accessibility, and utilization. In Bangladesh, food security has always been a major concern. Frequent natural disasters- floods, famine, cyclones, population increase, poverty, unplanned rapid urbanization, political instability, etc. exacerbate food insecurity. The first National Food Policy was adopted in 1988, focusing on food availability. However, along with availability, people should have convenient access to nutritious and safe food. The National Food Policy, 2006, has been adopted to establish a dependable food security system focusing on the pillars of food security. Accordingly, the National Food Policy Plan of Action (2008-2015) was formulated with strategies to activate the policy. The National Food and Nutrition Security Policy of Bangladesh (NFNSP), 2020, added a nutrition issue. The National Food and Nutrition Security Policy Plan of Action (2021-2030) explained the plan with certain interventions. The Safe Food Act, 2013 deals with food utilization. Despite the presence of the policies, food security is not achieved fully. The objectives of this paper are to explore the policies to identify the challenges in ensuring the pillars of food security and to explore the opportunities to address food insecurity. A systematic review method has been applied here. Results identified the challenges in the inequitable focus on the food security pillars. The opportunities are policy modification, including the pillars according to changing contexts, equitable distribution, initiatives at the field level, etc. The findings suggest understanding the challenges and opportunities in restructuring the food policies.
Presenters
Nazia HossainAssistant Professor, Department of Urban & Regional Planning, Rajshahi University of Engineering & Technology (RUET), Rajshahi zila, Bangladesh
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
FOOD POLICY, FOOD SECURITY, PILLARS OF FOOD SECURITY, CHALLENGES, OPPORTUNITIES
