FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION

The National Food Policy (NFP) 2006 of Bangladesh provides strategic guidance for achieving food and nutrition security in the country. The goal of the NFP is to ensure dependable food security for all people of the country at all times. Three indicators have been used to monitor progress towards the goal: prevalence of undernourishment, child underweight and child stunting. These indicators are complemented by another four food security indicators included in the Results Framework of the Sixth Five Year Plan (SFYP). These are growth of agricultural GDP, government spending on social protection, change in poverty rate and change in rice wage. Bangladesh reached the MDG target of undernourishment in early 2000s. Underweight and stunting also declined between 2007-08 and 2012-13, albeit slowly. Agricultural GDP growth weakened for the second consecutive year, reaching 2.17% in 2012-13; and spending on social protection as per cent of GDP continued to decline, reaching 2.23% in 2012-13 ¿ both falling short of targets. Poverty rate declined satisfactorily, reaching 31.5% in 2010.