Beyond Food Security: Next Transformation of Our Agriculture

Bangladesh has come a long way to transform its agricultural sector to ensure food for all through the distribution of improved varieties of the crop, irrigation facilities, application of fertilisers, farm mechanisation and research and adaptation in agriculture by farmers to engage in cultivation on shrinking land of the agricultural economy of the country.   On the other hand, while our achievement in the production of a sufficient amount of rice through agricultural development is praiseworthy, we have to face many challenges on the way to sustainable agricultural development. These challenges include ground water depletion, soil degradation, pesticide contamination and climate change. In addition to ensuring food security, sufficient production of rice does not ensure nutrition security of the people. So, in order to develop the agricultural sector further, we have to develop our agriculture beyond food security to produce healthy food for the people, to ensure the income of farmers and to develop an agricultural production system in a sustainable manner.
Rice security must remain the foundation.
Above all, Bangladesh agriculture will have to continue to produce sufficient quantities of rice to meet the basic food needs of the country and to sustain the economy. It is essential that adequate domestic production of rice is maintained and that adequate stocks are kept to cope with disasters or price rises caused by external factors.
Agro-ecological conditions and market opportunities for diversification into crops like pulses, oilseed crops, fruits and vegetables and fodder crops should be identified. Diversified farming will increase gross income from agriculture on an annual basis and supply food to help stabilise prices. Without remunerative marketing for these crops, however, growers will find it difficult to practice diversification on their farms for sustained periods.
From full stomachs to healthy diets
While in the past the agricultural development strategy focused mainly on the production of staple foods like rice for increasing food security, of late there is growing recognition that nutrition is as important and therefore needs to be given due importance along with the production of food. While rice is sufficient for providing calories to humans, it is not sufficient to provide the required amount of protein, iron, zinc and other essential vitamins and dietary components for the human body.
All aspects of agriculture, fisheries and livestock production should be planned with due consideration of the nutritional values that can be derived from different crops. Linkages between these and nutrition for human consumption and marketing have to be strengthened and consolidated.
All these food ingredients will need to be distributed to markets through reliable supply chains, stored safely, processed, marketed and sold at affordable prices to consumers. While growing biofortified crops can lead to improved nutrition of people consuming them, these cannot substitute for a diet that contains a variety of foods. Programs for nutrition education and effective public procurement of required food(s) will also be necessary.
Producing more food is not enough; that food must also be affordable and eaten as part of a balanced diet by the ordinary citizens of this country.
Safe food begins before harvest
Food safety problems often start before harvest with contaminated irrigation water and soil, with wrong use of pesticides, manure and veterinary drugs in agriculture. Risks for pesticide residues can be mitigated by using integrated pest management (IPM) methods like pest control monitoring, use of crop varieties resistant to pests, promotion of beneficial insects and the controlled use of pesticides.
Soil and produce may become contaminated with arsenic through use of arsenic-contaminated groundwater for agricultural purposes. This problem needs to be monitored and mitigated on a site-by-site basis depending on location, water source and crop(s) grown.
Healthy soil, sensible fertiliser

The soil is a living system which stores carbon, water and nutrients and contains a lot of useful organisms which can support the plants in the field. It can lose fertility and produce capacity in the long run even if it produces a lot in the short run by intensive cultivation, by consumption of nutrients, by the lack of organic matter, by salinisation and by compaction. By using balanced fertilisation, the crop residues from the previous seasons as well as the safely prepared organic matter from, e.g., manure or compost, can increase the soil health. However, contaminated compost or manure can contain pathogens, plastics and heavy metals. Mineral fertilisers and organic matter should complement each other in a scientifically balanced way.
Nutrient-use efficiency should become a major indicator of agricultural performance as excessive amounts of fertilisers increase production costs and cause environmental problems.
Water is not an unlimited input.
Water scarcity and flooding are two of the biggest water challenges facing Bangladesh. For dry-season Boro rice production, ensuring food security for the country relies heavily on groundwater. Even though Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) helps save water and reduce methane emission from rice production, the actual savings at the field level may not translate into equivalent savings at the aquifer or basin scale. Efficient irrigation, incentives for water-saving technologies and monitoring of groundwater to prevent over-extraction are key for sustainable water management for agriculture.
Climate action that also helps farmers
Agriculture is sensitive to climate change impacts but also contributes to climate change through flooded rice fields releasing greenhouse gases as well as through the livestock production sector and the nitrogen used in agricultural production systems.
Improving agricultural productivity through stress-tolerant varieties, use of weather information, improved drainage, water use efficiency, and use efficiency of fertilisers for climate change adaptation and emission reduction is necessary.
Climate change impacts on agriculture need to be addressed in different areas of Bangladesh through efficient agriculture to reduce impacts. The soil salinity problem of coastal agriculture will need to be addressed differently from the drought problem of Barind agriculture and the sudden-onset flash flood problem of Haur agriculture.
However, there would be changes in the emissions of other greenhouse gases, such as nitrous oxide and others, and thus the overall climate change potential of greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural production systems should be assessed through robust measurement.
One Health: linking people, animals and the environment
Excessive and often inappropriate use of antibiotics in animal production is compromising food-system safety of agricultural produce. The risk of generating and spreading antimicrobial resistance through food, water, animals and the environment is increasingly recognised.
Monitoring antimicrobial use in agriculture for the development of resistance is important and requires veterinary diagnosis and prescribing of antibiotics. Safe and prudent use of antibiotics on farms can be facilitated through the use of vaccines, good hygiene, biosecurity and health services supervision.
Conservation of beneficial insects such as honeybees; lower animals like earthworms and others; crop genetic resources; all types of wetlands (permanent or temporary); and trees that provide ecological services for agriculture need to be maintained. Ecological services beneficial for agriculture can be strengthened by agricultural production systems by implementing crop rotation and by means of biological control of pests as well as by protection of habitats of ecological services beneficial for agriculture. Practical and cost-effective measures for conservation of biodiversity on the farms of smallholder farmers need to be developed, however.
Measures for the conservation of biodiversity in agricultural ecosystems on the farms of smallholder farmers that are practical and cost-effective are needed nevertheless.
Make every resource count.
In addition to these losses of food of great value to human consumption, large amounts of resources such as land, water, fertilisers, energy and labour are being wasted. These losses could be greatly reduced through proper drying, storage, transport and processing using cold storage.
Crop residues and manure are valuable for farmers in the form of nutrients and energy. They can be safely recycled back to the farm without the need for expensive technology for precision agriculture. A simple soil test and timely information on irrigation, pest warnings, etc. can be of great value to farmers.
Computerised record keeping and traceability have to be matched with laboratories to test for safety, with relevant standards for safe production that are enforceable and affordable for smallholder farmers.
Many smallholders would like to be part of this ‘high-quality agricultural production of food’ but are excluded due to the high certification costs. Using shared testing facilities, producer organisations and a gradual introduction of new elements of improvement could make this practical for smallholders.
Change the way agricultural success is measured
While yield per hectare is an important indicator for agricultural performance, it does not reflect the farms’ profitability, the nutrient supply, safety, possible resource depletion, or climate change resilience. All these aspects of agricultural performance have to be measured and monitored too.
When measuring agricultural performance, consideration should be given to indicators such as annual system productivity, net farm income, dietary diversity, food safety, soil health, water use efficiency, nitrogen use efficiency and greenhouse gas intensity of agricultural systems and their resilience.
These indicators can be integrated into a national agrifood-system dashboard.
These indicators must show progress or trade-offs. It is important that scientists, extension agents and other stakeholders can see progress or trade-offs between different goals in agriculture and agri-food systems using this information. Higher yields at higher cost with more contaminants do not constitute progress.
Agri performance can be measured in terms of an agricultural farm’s overall economic, nutritional and environmental performance.
Research, incentives and institutions must follow
However, even when individual research centres specialise in individual aspects, agricultural researchers need to work together with breeders, agronomists, soil specialists, water specialists, entomologists, economists, nutritionists and public health researchers.
Although max. yield can already be efficiently improved by specialised agricultural research, under agricultural development research additional aspects such as production cost, efficient use of resources, safety and resilience under real farm conditions have to be focused.
This is, however, to be carefully undone for agricultural subsidies and agricultural finance, like, for example, for irrigation and for fertiliser, as well as for crop and plant protection and for agricultural environment performance.
Programmes of agricultural research and agricultural development should be supported with green credit, agricultural insurance and climate-smart agriculture finance.
Coordinated actions: agricultural, water, livestock, fisheries, and health and environment research institutions need to pursue similar objectives by using compatible information systems. At the local level this requires control of groundwater, agricultural drainage, integrated crop pest management and agricultural waste management.
National policies need to be implemented by field-level institutions.
Farmers and inclusion must be central.
Rural transformation requires participation of all groups of farmers and agricultural workers, including tenant farmers, women, agricultural labourers and the youth. Ensuring equal access to credit, agricultural machinery and equipment, agricultural extension services and markets is essential.
Technologies can be ‘demonstrated’ in research stations and even funded in pilot projects but may be unaffordable for small farmers who have to keep their farms going in the face of uncertainty as to price and margins. The large numbers of women producers of food in developing countries also face obstacles, including lack of training, lack of access to productive inputs, and being marginalised from agricultural decision-making.
This public investment in agriculture needs to reveal who profits from it, who pays for it and who bears the risks.
Further, efforts must be made for market development. Even if more nutritious and better-yielding alternative crops are grown by farmers, they can end up losing if there are no buyers, or where there are storage and processing facilities, these are either inadequate or far from farmers. They need better roads, fair prices and bargaining power through producer organisations and local processing facilities.
The next agricultural transformation
The agricultural vision for 2050 or beyond could be: Production of a secure quantity of rice, safe production of nutritious food, sound agriculture, efficient use of water & fertiliser, diversified agriculture where it is profitable, Reduction of agricultural emissions that need not be emitted and agriculture with disaster prevention & mitigation capacity.
Let’s redefine our goals and bring value to farmers by improving the income they get from agricultural production while preserving the agricultural ecosystem for future generations. Food security is vital and remains a constant factor, but achieving it is no longer the ultimate target.
Let’s lift our sights and aspire to produce enough safe, healthy food for all to eat. In addition to more income, farmers should get a better return from their work in the agricultural sector and for the conservation of the agricultural ecosystem for future generations.
Sustaining food security in the long run is not enough in today’s world to ensure the well-being of a country; achieving food security is critical.
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The writer is a Fellow of Bangladesh Academy of Agriculture and former Director General of Bangladesh Rice Research Institute