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BANGLADESH: Fear of Famine Follows Cyclone Havoc

Farid Ahmed

DHAKA, Nov 30 2007 (IPS) - With its grain crops wiped out, Bangladesh has appealed to the world community for half a million tonnes of rice or wheat to immediately feed thousands of starving survivors of the Nov. 15 cyclone and stave of a possible famine.

A farmer tries to salvage what he can from paddy flattened by Cyclone Sidr  Credit: Farid Ahmed/IPS

A farmer tries to salvage what he can from paddy flattened by Cyclone Sidr Credit: Farid Ahmed/IPS

Cyclone ‘Sidr’, which ripped through Bangladesh was the second catastrophe to hit the largely farming country after the devastating floods in July. With the two main rice crops of the year destroyed economists and others fear that a silent famine is lurking around the corner.

A cabinet member of the military-backed interim government, who is in charge of food and disaster management ministry, says the country urgently needs 500,000 tonnes of food grains in relief to overcome the food shortfall.

“We have sought assistance from international donor agencies and development partners in food grains as the government has failed to procure sufficient food grains for the loss of production caused by floods this year,” Tapan Chowdhury said after a meeting with the representatives of development partners and donor agencies in Dhaka. “We have requested friendly countries and other agencies to provide food grains as Bangladesh will face deficit in food production this year.’’

The government was now trying to meet the demand for food grains from its own stocks but even these are not likely to last beyond March.

The food and disaster management secretary of the government Mohammad Ayub Mia said the government now had a stock of 0.7 million tonnes of food grains, and needed to import at least one million tonnes of grains immediately to address the anticipated deficit.

Cyclone Sidr left over 4,000 people dead, affected nearly seven million others in this densely populated and impoverished country of nearly 150 million people.

The United Nations in its post-cyclone assessment, this week, said some 2.6 million in the poorest of the poor category were in need of immediate life and livelihood aid assistance. Many countries, international agencies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) joined the relief operations in the southern districts of Bangladesh, but tens of thousands of people in the south were still starving or half-fed.

To address immediate needs, the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has announced that the agency will begin from Saturday mass distribution of high-energy ‘BP5’ biscuits and family kits, especially for small children and pregnant and lactating mothers in the worst affected districts of Patuakhali, Barguna, Barisal, Bagerhat, Pirojpur and Jhalokathi.

The distribution is being carried out jointly with the World Food Programme (WFP), ‘Save the Children USA’ and local NGOs.

UNICEF estimates say over one million homes and 3,000 primary schools were either damaged or destroyed, and that facilities in public buildings in towns and villages have been stretched to the limit.

On Wednesday, hundreds of survivors in Barguna district demonstrated over alleged mismanagement in aid distribution.

Economists’ fears that a silent famine may be stalking the country were based on the fact that the devastating cyclone and floods has not only destroyed crops but also affected agriculture production and income-generating activities.

Senior economist Zaid Bakht told IPS that unless immediate measures are taken, the situation would likely deteriorate. ”It’s a risky situation as it may affect the macro-stability,” said Bakht, a research director of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, adding that the disasters had not only damaged the crops but also shortened the people’s earning opportunities.

“I don’t believe there will be any famine but there will be a crisis unless the government moves to procure food grains immediately,” he said, adding that any failure to tackle this tricky situation would worsen conditions rapidly.

The Red Cross in Geneva said this week that it was increasing its appeal for cyclone-hit Bangladesh to 24.5 million Swiss francs (22 million US dollars) as millions of people are still in need of assistance and shelter.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said in a statement that the aid will help provide affected individuals and families with ‘immediate relief, shelter, health, water and sanitation and early recovery assistance’. “With winter fast approaching, the families whose homes have been lost desperately need materials and technical support to make basic shelters for themselves and their belongings,” warned Graham Sanders, head of the federation’s shelter department.

“It’s a big challenge to import food and a bigger challenge to empower the affected people with purchasing capacity after giving food aid,” Prof. Mahbub Ullah, a well-known economist, said.

But experts generally shied away from using the word ‘famine’.

Matia Chowdhury, a former agriculture and food minister and a senior leader of the Awami League political party, told IPS that a food crisis cannot be averted if the government fails to import food grains through both public and private initiatives. “Surely there will be a food crisis…I do not want to use the word famine,” she said.

 
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