MDG Report 2012 - United Nations in Bangladesh

vegetables is needed. Crop diversification strategies should be demand driven forsuccess and sustainability.Protein and micronutrient deficient diets have serious implications for both maternaland child malnutrition. Intergenerational malnutrition dynamics wherebyundernourished mothers give birth to underweight children or raise undernourishedchildren, is a major hurdle to reducing hunger.Ensuring proper targeting and delivery of assistance to intended beneficiaries,continues to remain as major problem for both food and cash based social safety net(SSN) programmes.Ensuring food security to different groups of poor such as moderate poor, extremepoor and potential „climate refugees‟ during sudden increase in food prices continuesto be a challenge.Three major interventions required for achieving MDG 1 are agriculture and ruraldevelopment, employment generation and development of road infrastructure.A major concern in the country is the pervasive underemployment which hasprevented the country from fully meeting the MDG 1. The challenge is to ensure propooreconomic growth that can lead to creation of more jobs, better employment andhigher household income.There is considerable empirical evidence that inflation particularly food inflation hurtsthe poor relatively more than the rich. So, higher inflation, especially food inflation,since 2009 still remains a matter of concern.2.4 Way ForwardThe effectiveness of GO-NGO collaboration, especially in the areas of micro finance,in creating rural employment and reducing poverty.Agricultural research efforts and other technological developments need to bestrengthened and redirected towards cereal and non-cereal crops that are resistant tothe stresses of climate change. Crop agriculture in lagging regions like the south-westand coastal belts should be expanded. The linkage between the National AgriculturalResearch System (NARS) and the Directorate of Agricultural Extension (DAE)should be strengthened for successful dissemination of technology. Effective supportincluding credit has to be provided to the farmers to boost crop production anddiversification.Crop sector diversification strategies need to consider future demand for foodcommodities; the food based nutritional needs and desired outcomes; nutrientavailability from domestic crop production, geographical considerations related to soiland agro-ecological suitability as well as access to markets.A comprehensive land management policy needs to be adopted to ensure properbalance between different uses of land like crop production, rural roads, urbansettlements, access of the poor to lands such as khas land, char and water bodies,access to urban settlements with basic urban utilities and protection of coastal areasfrom rising sea levels and intrusion of salinity.The SSN programmes can ameliorate poverty and food security through reducinginclusion targeting errors as well as by improving size and type of assistance.Livelihoods oriented SSNs that emphasize productive assets, as well as other key35