The study in this paper will mainly take an analytical approach as a methodology. Itwill be based on a comprehensive literature review on publicly available data on Bangladesh climate change, social safety nets programs (SSNPs) and nutrition as well as laws and policies. Throughout the study qualitative approach is specifically adhered.
Climate change and Food Security in Bangladesh Our food system is constructed through a "dynamic interactions between bio-geophysical and human environment" (Parvin et al. 2013: 808). Disturbance to food system can potentially affect food security. According to Gregory et al. (2005 as cited in Parvin et al., 2013: 808) “Climate change can affect food system and eventually food security by several ways ranging from crop production, market changes, food price, income loss and supply chain infrastructures, etc.” The traditional food system of Bangladesh heavily relies on climatic incidents like rainfall, weather & temperature, water level, soil condition etc. Moreover, "because of geographical location" any climatic change "will adversely influence the food security of Bangladesh" (Islam, 2012:126). Here, the question may arise that Is climate change affecting food security as well as hindering people?s livelihoods in Bangladesh or it is simply a myth? The recent study by Parvin et al. (2013: 809) in one of the coastal district of Bangladesh (e.g. Khulna) reveals that “climate change(mostly seasonal variability and salinity intrusion) is playing prime role behindtheir reduction of income, loss of employment and reduction of crop production”. Their study further observes that the due to decrease in "both the availability and accessibility to food" since last 10-20 years, "majority of the families (75 percent) have claimed that their food consumption both in quality and quantity (63 percent) has deteriorated" (ibid). A significant amount of hardship was felt especially after two cyclones SIDR in 2007 and later Aila in 2009 which has not only hampered agricultural production but also made it difficult to find suitable job to ensure food security for their family and predominantly affected their "food consumption pattern" (Parvin et al. 2013: 810). The countrywide impact of climate change is also visible as "domestic food grain production remains susceptible to floods and droughts" which is accompanied by a "nonincrease in production other than cereals". The global trajectory of foodgrain production in the climate change reality is projected downward in general and most particularly for Bangladesh mostly because of coastal erosion and flooding due to the impact of climate changes . According to Parvin et al. (2013: 804) “it is also estimated that by 2050 major two type rice (premonsoon and dry season) production will decrease due to salinity and flood in Bangladesh”. Moreover, IPCC (2012) in its latest report warns that “higher sea levels will lead to an increased frequency of coastal flooding even if cyclone frequency or intensity remains unchanged” and “an increased exposure to both temperature extremes, and severe droughts, might be expected” (IPCC, 2012 in Black et al., 2013:33). Although, currently the food production especially rice, has increased in manifolds and it is claimed by the Bangladesh government that around 3-4 million tonnes of rice is surplus to the demand of the country whereas; Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) study proves otherwise and term such claim as "very high and not realistic".
Thus from present scenario to future projection climate change is an extra burden on the effort to secure food for all citizens in the country like Bangladesh for numerous factors. In short these factors are: uncontrolled farming environment, rice-based agriculture greatly depends on the availability of fresh surface and ground water, lack of stress tolerant varieties, seasonal farming, changed cropping pattern, excessive and unplanned urbanization, indiscriminate use of natural resources, unplanned industrial growth, imbalanced use of agricultural inputs and extreme farming. A comprehensive climate change policy addressing all these issues has no alternatives in this regard.
Social safety Net and Food Security in Bangladesh Being a developing country the utmost challenge is making food accessible for all irrespective of race, religion, castes, ethnicity, rich, poor and urban or rural. It has been unanimously discussed that in order to make food accessible the most „dominant determinant" is nothing other than „the level and the growth of income". Even though the income growth in Bangladesh has been increasing every year by 6.5 percent except few exceptions since 1990, “the income is highly unequally distributed and the disparity has been growing” and this ultimately compels "nearly one-third of the people to live below the poverty line" (ibid). This poverty-stricken population lacks “sufficient resources to afford a diet of 2,122 kilocalories (kcal) per person per day, along with other basic necessities” (Hossain et al. 2005:104). Here, one obvious question can draw one's attention that being agro-based economy and "about 63 percent of the labor force" involved in "agriculture, forestry and fisheries"; why does this large group of population suffer chronic poverty and food insecurity" The answer is failure of "trade-based entitlement" "labor-based entitlement" and "transfer-based entitlement" because “50 per cent of rural households involved in agricultural production arelandless” and the number of landless agricultural households are 11 million in Bangladesh (ibid). Therefore, under the states" constitutional obligation, certain cost-efficient and effective “social safety net programs (SSNPs) are amust to insulate the poor from systematic and idiosyncratic shocks and help them to be food secure” (Hossain et al. 2005:120). This is because, in medium terms, incentives like credit programs and insurance mechanisms at the time of crisis can be highly beneficial in pulling down poverty chain and enabling them to fight with sudden shocks (ibid: 125).
Nutrition and Food security in Bangladesh The prevalence of stark food intake and chronic malnutrition in Bangladesh is unstoppable as long as real food security is not achieved and this malnutrition problem will not be solved even after "increases in food availability and household access to food". If the nutrition value of the available food is mixed with contaminants beyond the tolerance limit then the food is not safe. Thus safety of food is the most important factor to meet the third requirement of the food security concept. Hossain, et al. (2005: 104) observe that “apart from the prevailing deficit in total calorie intake, the normal diet of Bangladeshi people isseriously imbalanced, with inadequate consumption of fat, oil and protein, and with more than 80 per cent of calories derived from cereals”. They further mark that factors like low income, food preferences and lack of nutrition education are the contributing agents with lack of local production of non cereal foods, in such imbalance of food consumption, where other factors like general health and sanitary environment are also crucial reactants (ibid). Thus, in the context of Bangladesh, food safety and nutrition is one of the burning issues for various reasons. According to Islam, G., (2013: 47) there are “three types of hazards: (a) microbiological hazards; (b) physical hazards and (c) chemical hazards” associated with food safety. The excessive uses of chemical products (e.g. pesticides, antibiotics in animal production, fertilizers) are regular incidence in agricultural production (ibid) that causes serious chemical hazard in Bangladesh. Moreover, arsenic contamination is a "real disaster" that affects thousands of poor people in numerous ways (ibid: 51). Arsenic exposure in Bangladesh occurs in “two ways: (a) by ingestion of contaminated drinking water and food and (b) by inhalation of metal-containing dust” (Khan, I., 2010:579). The accretion of an excessive level of arsenic has happened because of excessive utilization of groundwater from "both shallow and deep tube-- wells for irrigation of agricultural lands, particularly during the dry period (November-March) for production of high-yielding varieties of rice. Such contamination has caused “9,136 deaths per year and 174,174 disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) among people who were exposed to arsenic concentrations of above 50 μg/L, and this constituted about 0.3% of the total burden of disease in Bangladesh”.