WELCOME

URBANIZATION AND ITS EFFECT ON

FOOD SECURITY

Mahmud Shuvo MBBS(AFMC)

shuvo.afmc@gmail.com

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URBANIZATION

Hrishiraj Sarma | 13MUP03 | 2nd Sem | BCHS | 2014

TO ACQUAINTE WITH URBANIZATION AND ITS EFFECT

ON FOOD SECURITY

AIM:

SCOPE :

a. What is urbanization ?b. What is food security ?c. Causes and Effects on food security d. Urbanization in Bangladeshe. Recommendationf. Conclusion

INTRODUCTION : The word Urbanization refers to shift of population from rural to urban areas.The gradual increase in the proportion of people living in urban areas and the ways in which each society adapts to the change. It predominantly results in the physical growth of urban areas, be it horizontal or vertical.

CONT…...

Food security “exists when all people at all times have both physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs for an active and healthy life.”

Food security and urbanization are closely related to each other. It has become a great challenge to ensure food security in the era of urbanization.

DESCRIPTION :• Scenerio of Urbanization

* People moving form rural settlement to a city or to a densely populated area calls urbanization. People move to cities for various reasons, city provides different services available in the cities. Job, education, health care, transportation, entertainment etc are the pull for urbanization.

Causes of Urban Growth

Better food supply

Good medical care

Education

Jobs

Specialization of professionsEntertainment

Bangladesh is an integral part of the urban transformation that the world is witness to, and is gradually making the shift from ‘rural’ to ‘urban’. Though the level of urbanization is still rather low, only 28.4 percent, it however already had a very large population 42.7 million in 2011, living in the countries nearly 570 urban centres.

Projected Rural and Urban Population: Bangladesh: 2011-2051

Source: Bangladesh Census, and estimations

Table 1: Trends of Urbanization in Bangladesh (1901-2011)

The consequences of urbanization for a country is not a given. Both the experience of Bangladesh as well as the general global experience is that urbanization is an inevitable feature of the development process. However, beyond this very general trend, urbanization holds both promise and problems for a country and which feature will come to dominate will very much depend on the nature and efficacy of policy engagement with the urban agenda.

There are many reasons why people are flocking to the urban centres. Most important attraction is economic: 71% of the reasons cited by Dhaka and Chittagong residents are for employment, 21% for business purposes. Similar percentages also apply in the case of the secondary towns.

But not all of the reasons are narrowly economic. 23.3% cite children’s education as an important reason for migrating to the two metropolitan centres. Student migrants percentages are also an emerging reality: 15.3% of Dhaka and Chittagong residents are student migrants.

IMPACTS OF URBANIZATION

These problems are very complex and their interactions are hard to define. It is very important to examine problems trough the social-economic-cultural system. Even the interconnections between urbanization and food security are now better known, we still lack exact information on how the issues are linked, on what degree they interact and what are the most effective measures. One problem is to integrate land- and water use planning to provide food and water security (UNEP 1999).

Probably most of the major environmental problems of the next century will result from the continuation and sharpening of existing problems that currently do not receive enough political attention. The problems are not necessarily noticed in many countries or then nothing is done even the situation has been detected. The most emerging issues are climate changes, freshwater scarcity, food security, and fresh water pollution and population growth.

Demerits of Urbanization in Bangladesh

Some of the disadvantages of urbanization are:

1. Increase of population2. Movement of people from rural to urban areas3. Increase of Industries and factories4. Increase in pollution in the environment5. Farmers losing their farms6. Cutting down forests

8. Distraction in the eco-system

The Urbanization of Bangladesh is increasing rapidly, which should be considered as a good thing! NO…..

7. Global warming

As we can see from the graph in the left side, urbanization is of Bangladesh increasing rapidly. But it is also clear that with the increase of urbanization population of our country is also increasing! And with the raise of population the need for food, clothes and shelter are also rising…With the increase of basic needs, people are looking for better jobs and moving towards the cities, thus making the cities over crowded and densely populated.

All those are related and are discussed as follows:

With urbanization industries and factories are also increasing, which is again followed by air, water, soil and sound pollutions.

We are losing the beauty of our country as well as the greenery. Which is due to cutting down forests and trees to fulfill the demand of rising population and for the industries. As such farmers are losing their farms and jobs due to pollution created by those factories and also because they want to move in to the cities for better paid jobs. Which might lead us to a worse situation…

With Urbanization global warming is increasing. For which we can say, its not only effecting human beings but also all the living creatures in the world. Due to deforestation animals are losing their homes and thus some of those r on their way to extinct.

Present Condition of Urbanization in Bangladesh

Due to population growth cities are becoming impossible to live in near future .

As population increases pollution increases

With urbanization industries and factories are also increasing, which is again followed by air, water, soil and sound pollutions.

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IMPACT OF URBANIZATION OVER ENVIRONMENT

Impact on biosphere

Hrishiraj Sarma | 13MUP03 | 2nd Sem | BCHS | 2014

Modification of Habitats.

Destruction of Habitats.

Creation of New Habitats

NOW, WHAT’S ABOUT FOOD SECURITY???

FOOD SECURITY INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING ASPECTS :

• Availability• Access• Affordability• Quality• Nutrition• Safety

Think of an example of an issue which may affect each aspect of food security.

Increasing population - In 2009, the world population was 6 billion. By 2050, it is predicted to reach 9 billion. Our current output of food is not enough to feed a population of 9 billion.

Food security is one of the biggest challenges facing humankind. There are many factors related to urbanization which have combined to make food security such a large issue. This includes:

Changing diets - As countries develop and people become richer they tend to eat a more varied diet, including more meat, which requires more energy to produce. This also means there is more competition for the same types of food.

Reduced arable land - The drive to produce more biofuels for transport uses edible crops and has reduced arable land

Transport costs - The relatively high price of oil in recent years has increased the price of food storage and distribution.

Climate change - Climate change is leading to a warmer world which will affect what crops can be grown where. Climate change can also lead to more frequent extreme weather events (e.g. floods) which can damage crops.

• Therefore, these factors are negatively affecting on environment as well as food security. Population increase, growth of income , lack of planning and development control are resulting rapid conversion of agricultural productive land to urban use and directly or indirectly impending the supply of safe, sufficient and nutritious food among the people.

Current availability and gaps:

The total requirement of cereals in 2010-11 is estimated to be 23.64 million tons, based on 435.6 g/capita/day consumption (BBS Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2010) for a population size of 148.69 million. Against this, production of cereals (cleaned rice and wheat) in 2010-11 is estimated at 31.50 million tons after deduction of 10% for seeds, feed and wastage. Potato production is reported to be surplus by 6.25 million tons. Gaps between requirement and production of other important food crops and livestock products are wide.

(Million MT) Food Items

Food Production in 2010-11 (mT) (less 10%)

Requirements in 2015 (mT) (less 10%)

Production in 2015 (mT) (less 10%)

Surplus (+) Gaps (– ) (mT)

Rice & wheat 31.5 25.29 35.00 +9.71 Pulses 0.65 2.32 0.97 -1.35 Oilseeds 0.76 1.28 0.90 -0.38 Vegetables 10.07 9.58 9.82 -0.24 Fruits 3.52 2.90 5.15 -2.25 Potato 7.47 3.48 10.00 +6.52 Fish 2.8 3.25 4.00 +0.75 Meat 1.71 0.98 2.45 -1.47 Milk 2.66 14.29 4.54 -9.75 Egg (million) 54702 16297 11052 -5245

Table 5: Projected requirements and production of major food items in 2015

APPROACHES TO COMBAT THE HAZARD

FOOD SECURITY AND GOVERNANCE

Bangladesh agriculture has achieved significant structural changes over the past three and half decades. Despite many problems and constraints a quiet agricultural revolution has taken place which is still evolving in response to natural calamities, sociopolitical changes, population growth, and urbanization, new technology in agriculture and new opportunities in rural non-agriculture sector commercialization and changes in macro policy and sector intervention in agriculture. Improved national governance is most needed today to reduce hunger. Democracy is one useful standard of good governance.

Internal peace: Governments in Bangladesh must do a better job of preserving internal peace. Where national governments fail to preserve internal peace, food production and access to food are compromised. Present government has the utmost priority on internal peace.

Rule of law: The prosperity of Bangladesh agriculture is satisfactory because of good civil and judicial systems or arbitrary and anti-corrupt governmental administration has tended to encourage private investment. Public investment in rural infrastructure: Such investments are moderate strong in Bangladesh, increasing the life chances of the rural poor. More than 49.8 percent of rural people in the poorest income quintile live in rural settings, and very few of these poor rural households enjoy the basic infrastructure needed for a healthy and productive life. Government support for agricultural research and development: Between 1971 and 2011, public spending on agricultural research and development in Bangladesh is increased. One percent of AGDP is allocated for agricultural research is planned in future. Strong coordinated efforts by both the public and the private sectors.

The WHO states that there are three pillars that determine food security: food availability, food access, and food use. The FAO adds a fourth pillar: the stability of the first three dimensions of food security over time. In 2009, the World Summit on Food Security stated that the "four pillars of food security are availability, access, utilization, and stability”

On the basis of the pillars, there are a number of measures to be taken through which we can improve the food security world wide :

i. There is still scope for further increase in rice production through intensification of land use in the vast coastal areas and depressed basins as haor and char land where single crop system dominates.

ii. Expansion of employment in non-cereal production like vegetables, pulses, oil seeds and fruits and animal source foods like dairy, poultry and fisheries and in manufacturing activities is possible which may improve food security of the people.

iii. Expansion of food processing and food preservation activities with effective control of safety and quality with network of laboratory support and extension services by the government across the regions reaching upto farmer level of the country.

iv. Increased investment in increasing quality of food by giving stress on HACCP and Sanitary and photo sanitary measures for boosting exports and ensuring health of domestic consumers.

v. Liberalization of imports of fruits and grains for food processing enterprises for products oriented to domestic consumption or for exports

vi. Property rights to the farmers in using common property through community based organizations as in fish production in using baor, open water bodies like rivers, plain low fields, canals with extension services from the government agencies. The NGOs may be engaged to see the interests of fish farmers.

vii. Increased capacity to import food through increased export earnings and remittances from migrant workers.

viii. Increased investment in technology and skill development for ensuring safe drinking water throughout the country

Table 4: Production

and availability

of major food items

(1994-2011) Food Items

Production (million tons) Availability ( gm/capita/day)

1994-95 2004-05 2010-11 1994-95 2004-05 2010-11*  

Cereals 18.08 26.13 35.0 374 464 647 Potato 1.50 5.95 8.30 32 108 153 Pulses 0.53 0.31 0.72 11 10 13 Oilseed 0.48 0.56 0.84 10 10 15 Vegetable

1.21 6.50 11.19 21 108 207

Fruits 1.41 4.60 3.56 24 68 65 Fish 1.17 2.10 2.89 27 41 53 Meat 0.48 1.06 1.90 11 21 35 Milk

1.52 2.14 2.95 35 42 54.60

Egg (Million) 2400 5623 6078 19** 41** 41

ix. Regional variation in food security may be reduced by diffusing technology and knowledge among the farmers and consumers of backward regions.

RECOMMENDATION

a. Human resource development b.Poverty and economic growth c. Food security and nutrition

d.Population growth & movements e. Food supply

CONCLUSION To summarize, the objective was that to

outline the relationship between urbanization and food security and compare food density. Lessons from successful agricultural and nutrition related policies and programs in other societies can be useful in highlighting best practices. Sound planning, well educational strategy, and its strong co-ordination of implementation plan supported by ample amount of finance is essential to make relevant policy recommendations.