The paper analyzes the food security situation in Bangladesh with special focus on nutrition
sensitive agriculture. From the availability point of view, aggregate domestic production and per
capita availability of food grains (rice and wheat) increased over the past decades. Although
domestic foodgrain production persistently increased, leading to apparent surplus situation, import
still constitutes about 10% of availability. Per capita availability of potato, pulses, oilseeds,
vegetables, meat, milk and egg increased notably from 2004-05, though the country is grossly
deficit in relation to requirement for all the food items except rice and potato.
Bangladesh has some success in ensuring people’s access to food in all the three dimensions –
economic, physical and social. During the last two decades poverty rate notably decreased, though
31.5% and 17.6% of the population, according to HIES 2010, lives below upper and lower poverty
line respectively. The average income and consumption level of the people living below the
poverty lines improved during the period from 2000 to 2010, but little improvement occurred in
income distribution. The upward trend in real wage rate for the agricultural labourers reflects their
increased access to food.