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Download PDF Bangladesh yesterday sought five lakh metric tons (MT) of rice from the international community as assistance for tackling any possible food crisis in the country because of the recent spate of floods and the cyclone.
“We have requested the donors to provide at least five lakh metric tons of rice, so that we can prevent any possible crisis of food,” Food and Disaster Management Adviser Tapan Chowdhury said after a meeting with representatives of different donor countries and agencies in his office.
Briefing reporters, he said the donors have been requested to procure the rice from the international market in a bid to avert shortage of it on the local market.
United Nations Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh Renata Lok Dessallien, who was also present at the meeting, told the journalists that with respect to the existing situation, all international partners were strongly urged to give top priority to food.
“It has been a call, formal or informal… How should I say? The call is there,” she said replying to a query.
Quoting the food adviser at the meeting, the UN official said shocks of two consecutive floods and the cyclone meant that the overall stock of food in Bangladesh is diminished and it is very important that the donors help to keep it at the appropriate level.
“So we are appealing to the international community to give food the top priority in terms of assistance to the flood and cyclone affected people of Bangladesh,” she said.
Food ministry sources said the government needs at least 10.68 lakh metric tons of food grains for the next seven months for different relief programmes. It needs 32,000 MT for gross relief programme, 2.01 lakh MT for vulnerable group feeding (VGF), 1.5 lakh MT for Test Relief, 1.85 lakh MT for the food for work programme, 2.5 lakh MT for open market sale (OMS), and 2.5 lakh MT for other programmes.
The current stock of food grains in the country stands at 7.37 lakh MT while another 3.25 MT is in the pipeline.
Tapan Chowdhury said the meeting mainly discussed food assistance. “The food ministry procured only five lakh metric tons of rice from the local market during the boro-aus season in a bid to meet the target of having 12 lakh metric tons in stock,” he added.
“We prefer to keep the food stock of the country at 10 lakh metric tons at the least,” the adviser said adding that although the government is not sensing any shortage of food right now, a stable stock is required for preventing any possible crisis that might occur in March of next year.
“It takes a long time to import rice, so we asked the donors to provide us with rice as assistance, procuring those from the international market, in a bid to maintain a safe level of food stock,” he said.
At the meeting it was disclosed that World Food Programme (WFP) promised to provide 71,000 MT of rice, while India and the US promised 50,000 MT, and 25,000 MT respectively.
Tapan Chowdhury said the donors formed several clusters among themselves, based on different sectors, to better coordinate the international assistance to Bangladesh.
According to the decision, WFP will be the lead agency for food and logistics, Unicef for water, sanitation, education and protection, WHO for health, and UNDP for early recovery and shelters.
“Lead agencies of the clusters will assess the requirements in different sectors and notify the government within a few days,” Tapan Chowdhury said.
UN Resident Coordinator Renata said there are some difficulties in coordinating the relief and rehabilitation work, and different UN bodies are assisting the government in managing it.
“And our challenge is to ensure a delivery plan and distribution plan be given to the government’s cyclone relief coordination centre so that they can manage it properly,” she said.
“Otherwise our concern is that there may be some well wishing partners who may be overlapping themselves, and there may be needy people who don’t get anything,” she added.
She said a large number of people were affected by the recent cyclone, which is larger even than the total population of some European countries.
“So this is quite a big challenge and so far the response has been good,” she went on adding, “When you are dealing with such a large number of people, coordination is essential and that is why we are assisting for a coordination cell,”
British High Commissioner Anwar Chowdhury, who was also present at the meeting, said a British plane will be landing in Dhaka today with 41,000 blankets and 40,000 jerry cans for water.
“Water seems to be the most urgent requirement at the moment,” he said adding that Britain is also assisting Bangladesh in repairing its telecommunications system in the cyclone-hit areas.
“Today I was very pleased to receive an offer from a telecom company who wants to repair the telecommunication damage caused by the cyclone, free of charge. I have asked the secretary [telecommunications] to come with requirements,” he added.
DONORS URGED TO GIVE AID THRU’ GOVT
UNB adds: Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury yesterday urged the donors to provide their assistance for the country’s cyclone-affected people through government channels for better coordination of the relief activities.
But, British High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury said the best way to provide aid for the affected people is through the NGOs that directly work with the people.
“We’ll have to carry out the relief activities in a coordinated manner. We apprised them about this so that the aid is given through the government,” Iftekhar told reporters after briefing the diplomatic corps in Dhaka on the post-cyclone relief operations.
Replying to a question about request to give aid through government channels, the foreign adviser said, “There is no misuse (of relief) because the government is in the driver’s seat.”
Asked about the duration of stay of the US service personnel on board the ship, he said, “I can’t say about this. Our coordinator Gen Matin has said they will not stay a day more than needed.”
Asked if he appealed for any food aid during the meeting with the diplomats, Iftekhar said the appeal welcoming aid is still there and the food and disaster management adviser briefed them as to what type of help is required.
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