Alok Acharja

Ensuring sustainable food security is a major challenge for any country. Various organizations and countries of the world are trying to deal with this problem together, because many women, men and children in the world are going to sleep hungry. We have this Problem before, but it has increased since the Russia-Ukraine-War started. While everyone wants the war to end, there is no sign of it so far. On the contrary, the Russian President's decision to increase the number of new troops has the potential to create a large-scale war situation. Humans are responsible for creating this unstable situation. But the sad thing is, that the people, who created this problem, are not suffering from lack of food.

All countries, including low, middle and rich countries, are vulnerable to Food-Inflation. Prices of agricultural inputs have increased, along with all commodities. The prices of fertilizers and pesticides have increased. Supply costs have increased, due to increase in fuel oil prices. Food prices have increased in many countries of the world, due to the increase in the cost of crop production. Compared to last year, the position of Bangladesh's ability to satisfy hunger has dropped three steps. The Position of Bangladesh is now 84th among 127 countries in the ability to satisfy hunger. Bangladesh got 19.4 out of 100 total score in the global index.

Bangladesh is ahead of neighboring countries India (105) and Pakistan (109) in the Index. However, Sri Lanka (56), Nepal (68) and Myanmar (74) are ahead of Bangladesh. Analyzing recent indicators, Bangladesh is one of the few countries that has made significant progress in the fight against hunger since 2016. Bangladesh's Score in the 2016 Index was 24.7. Last year it fell to 19. According to the World Hunger Index Report, Bangladesh, Mozambique, Nepal, Somalia and Togo have managed to reduce their scores by more than 5 points compared to 2016. However, the number of hungry people in Bangladesh is a matter of serious concern.

The index currently lists Bangladesh as a country with ‘ Hunger. According to the report, the level of hunger in a country is determined by calculating the level of malnutrition, low weight for height of children, low height for age and childmortality. The value of each of these four indicators forms a Scoresystem of 100 Points in the Global Hunger Index. According to the Index, six Länder have alarming levels of hunger. The six countries at the bottom of the index are Burundi, South Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, Chad and Madagascar.

The top five countries in the index are Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chile, China and Costa Rica. Climate Change has been added to the war. According to a report by the German news media Deutsche Welle (DW), a total of 60,000 Liters of Water is required to produce one kilogram of Rice.Rice cultivation in the country is under threat, due to the decrease of fresh water in India day by day. Currently 80 percent of India's fresh water is used only for Rice cultivation. According to FAO's 2023 State of Food Insecurity and Nutrition in the World Report, about 9,2 percent of the world's total population, or 691 million to 783 million people, faced hunger in 2022, up from 7.9 percent in 2019. Fires in Canada and Europe, droughts in South America and East Africa, floods in China and climate change in dry parts of California have exacerbated the food crisis. Food crisis is intensifying in African countries.

Inflation has also increased Food prices in developed countries to record highs. Ethiopia, Somalia and Yemen are also facing deadly food shortages. Man-made Environment along with Climate is responsible for this. Thousands of acres of land in Somalia have lost crops due to low rainfall. Farmers' livestock died due to lack of water and food. 34.5 million people in the world are now acutely hungry. And this number of hungry people is more than double compared to 2019. The Statement said, despite the assurances of the leaders of the 21st century that there will be no more famines in the 21st century, another famine is imminent in Somalia.

We have no choice but to stop the war. Most of the people do not have money to buy it. It is a humanitarian disaster. For decades, the world has been striving to create a hunger-free world. Where poverty is a major problem in developing and underdeveloped countries. Diese Poverty ist mainly due to a lack of purchasing power and people go hungry. The economy of the world has suffered greatly due to the shock of Corona.

Because the production activities have stopped due to the phased lockdown. People have lost their Jobs and become poor. While trying to turn around from that situation, the understanding of the Russia-Ukraine-War has come to a head. Along with Israel, a group of Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran-Pakistan has created conflict in the Middle East.

A major war is threatening to break out. One shock can't be dealt with and another shock forces people to lose hope. People’s standard of living is going down, as inflation is rampant across the world and daily costs are increasing. The World is likely to face a major crisis in the coming months. Suffers due to war and its long-standing problems, such as conflicts in different countries, climate change and the refugee crisis. Now these problems are becoming more acute. Because different countries are facing Food Crisis. Meanwhile, the acute refugee crisis around the world has posed a challenge. Building a sustainable food security system is difficult.

World Poverty and Food insecurity are intensifying, due to War, Climate Change and Inequality. The number of people living in poverty is increasing dramatically. Also, the number of hungry people in the world is increasing. Dealing with that is a challenge for the world. Poverty, reduced purchasing power, dwindling reserves, shortage of food supply, increasing number of hungry people etc. will suffer the economy for a long time. However, natural calamities such as droughts, floods etc. are not less responsible for this. A United World to build a sustainable food system is crucial at this time. If that is not possible, this World may have to face a more dire situation in Food Crisis.

The writer is a, Essayist and Columnist Pabna