Food crisis
Munir Uz Zaman / Driknews
The government needs to stipulate the maximum retail prices of rice. Hopefully, this may afford relief to a populace that has been suffering as a result of high rice prices for a long time. There are those who argue that such price controls are not really compatible with the concept of an open economy. True, the basis of an open economy is healthy competition for emptying the consumers' wallets. But the government cannot remain an onlooker if the people are victimized by economic forces, trade manipulations or a combination of such factors. It has to take the side of the consumer, without necessarily harming the interests of the farmers and traders. But it would be naive to think that this crisis is confined to Bangladesh. According to the latest reports, the entire Asian region (where the staple food is invariably rice) is facing a 'rice crisis' on an unprecedented scale. Food prices are going up globally and rice is no exception. Is there no solution in sight to the food crisis? That would be a pessimistic assessment even amid these challenges. Sometimes even the simplest of ideas can be a part of an overall solution. One frequently-quoted example is the low productivity of farms in Sri Lanka and elsewhere in the Third World. Better-yielding and more disease resistant paddy varieties must be cultivated using more modern (mechanical) methods. There will be no simple solutions to this global crisis, but a concerted effort on the part of all rice producing countries will help ease Asians' hunger pangs.
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