Bangladesh PM Warns People of Looming Global Famine

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, Bangladesh is among 45 countries facing a food crisis. The dwindling foreign exchange reserves of the country are fraught with economic instability, exacerbated by the record jump in global commodity prices.

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has asked citizens to use uncultivated land for farming and protect the country from a looming global famine.

"I again request you all not to waste food and increase food production. Bring every inch of lands under cultivation. Protect Bangladesh from possible famine and food deficit-like situations," Hasina said as she addressed an event marking World Food Day 2022.

The prime minister urged people to cultivate “whatever you can,” as the government has been scouting for staple foods - rice and wheat - in the global market to ensure food grain availability.

The prime minister said that if people came together to produce food, Bangladesh would not face such a crisis, although the world might be “hit hard by the famine.”

US dollar-dominated international trade has exacerbated the crisis in Africa and Asia, as many countries in these regions are scrambling for foreign exchange to pay for their food imports.

According to the World Food Program, the world is facing its largest food crisis in modern history.

Bangladesh, a country with a population of around 165 million people, is hoping to receive $5.5 billion from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in budgetary support as its foreign exchange reserves had depleted to $36.33 billion as of October 12.

In September, the Sheikh Hasina government fixed the prices of nine commodities, including staple rice, amid eight-year high inflation triggered by supply disruptions on the international market.

Bangladesh is currently purchasing rice and wheat from Vietnam and Russia.