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[DHAKA, 22 April 2008] - An expected bumper rice harvest may not be enough to stave off a food crisis in Bangladesh as a result of rising prices, experts say. This month's 'boro' rice harvest - one of three harvests annually - accounts for nearly 60 per cent of the country’s rice yield, but as rice and wheat prices increase globally, Bangladesh faces problems: According to the World Food Programme (WFP), it remains a low-income, food-deficit country with annual average food grain imports of two million metric tonnes (mt). About half of the population (63 million people) live below the food poverty line, spending 70 per cent of their household income on food. Among these, 28 million people, representing 20 per cent of the total population, are considered “ultra poor”, says WFP. According to the Food Ministry’s Food Situation Report 2007, the total food grain import requirement for the current fiscal year (July 2007-June 2008) is projected at 4.03 million mt, while in the last fiscal year 2.42 million mt were imported. On 6 April government food adviser A.M.M. Shawkat Ali told a conference of district administrators in Dhaka the present food situation - described by some economists as a “silent famine” - would probably continue for many days. Over the past six months, the price of food essentials, particularly rice, has increased by over 70 percent in some places. The government has responded by allowing consumers to purchase rice and other food essentials at subsidised prices under its open market sale (OMS) scheme, and by organising food-for-work programmes and soft bank loans for affected farmers, but more efforts will be needed. It also distributed 956,000 mt of food grains between July 2007 and March 2008, and is providing US$14.71 million as cash aid to help generate employment and income for the long-term poor, according to the Bangladesh Directorate of Food. Mismanagement, discontent Despite these efforts, the prognosis remains bleak, with incidents of mismanagement at various levels now being reported in various parts of the country. Hafizur Rahman Bhuiyan, divisional commissioner for Rajshahi Division (northwestern Bangladesh), one of six administrative divisions in Bangladesh, said farmers were still not getting the loans they needed due to "irregularities and corruption" at the field level. Aziz Hassan, a divisional commissioner from Sylhet Division, said tenders invited for development projects had also run into irregularities in his division. In Araihazar sub-district of Narayanganj District there were angry demonstrations in front of the office of the sub-district executive officer after residents discovered they could not buy rice from an OMS outlet. In Raighati union of Mohanpur sub-district, Rajshahi Division, angry residents accused the local government unit chairman, Osman Ghani, of siphoning off rice for the government's vulnerable group feeding (VGF) programme, with police reportedly recovering at least one sack of stolen VGF rice in his possession. On 6 April police arrested Jamal Hossain, an OMS dealer in Dhaka, on charges of hiding 13 sacks of rice meant for sale at the outlet under his care. According to Abul Barakat, secretary-general of the Bangladesh Economic Association (a national organisation of professional economists), manipulation by middlemen, market speculation, import problems, corruption, high production costs and an acute lack of government coordination have aggravated food prices. Calls for distribution of subsidised food Deputy commissioners attending a conference in Dhaka have suggested reintroducing the distribution of essential food items for government employees following an appeal for assistance by hundreds of thousands of teachers and employees of government and non-governmental educational institutions; a measure not seen since the 1980s. "We demand distribution at subsidised rates of essential commodities to 800,000 teachers and the employees of more than 30,000 non-government high schools, colleges, and `madrasas’ (Islamic schools) across the country," said Quazi Faruk Ahmed, coordinator of the National Front of Teachers and Employees. Meanwhile, Barakat suggested free distribution of rice among the extreme poor who cannot afford to purchase food items because of high prices, estimating their number - or those living on under $1 a day - at around 20 million. The high cost of living, coupled with unemployment, had led to an extreme situation for the impoverished nation, he said. "About half the population is passing days half-fed or without food," Barakat said, criticising the free market economy for being unsympathetic to the poor and alleging that greedy traders were able to manipulate prices. Further information