Uttam Kumar Deb, Mahabub Hossain and Steve Jones tries to review the impact of the food crisis in 2007/08 on food prices, food insecurity, and poverty in Bangladesh and country’s participation in the global market.

The study was commissioned by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) in response to the food price hikes in 2007 and 2008. Each of the studies was undertaken by leading experts. The study also discussed at a national forum in Dhaka in February and April 2009.

The study reviews the impact of the food crisis in 2007/08 0n food prices, food insecurity, and poverty in Bangladesh and country’s participation in the global market. The study also examines whether the country can safely depend on the world market to meet its food deficits, by assessing the reliability of Bangladesh’s main sources of imported rice. The paper compares Bangladesh’s costs of producing rice with other countries and assesses its comparative advantage in rice production.

Given the experience in 2007/08, this study asks whether Bangladesh should continue to pursue a strategy of self-reliance or return to its earlier policy of self-sufficiency through domestic production, in order to ensure national food security?

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