Policy constraints for implementation of the proposed programs for investment in agriculture, food security and nutrition in Bangladesh

The Bangladesh Country Investment Plan (CIP) was prepared in mid-2010 with a view to mobilize resources to complement national budget, especially access external resources through the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program. The CIP “provides for a coherent set of priority investment programs to improve food security and nutrition in an integrated way” and the proposed programs have been derived from the National Food Policy 2006 and its Plan of Action (PoA) 2008-2015 and involved wide consultations with key ministries, private sector, NGOs and development partners. It is stated in the CIP that it “ builds on the very solid existing policies, strategies and plans in support of food security” , it recognizes that a number of existing policies may be controversial but the CIP “does not in itself address these policy issues: it focuses on investment and builds on existing policies. However, a number of investments under the CIP will contribute to the policy debate, e.g. by investing in information, analyses and exploring various implementation options, so that policy dialogue is not ideological but based on technical analysis and feasibility studies. The CIP would also lead to policy development and reforms”. Further, the CIP was conceived as a “living document to be regularly revised as a result of (i) further consultations with stakeholders; (ii) changing circumstances; (iii) feedback from monitoring and evaluation activities”. In line with the above, the NFP 2006 and the PoA 2008-2015 and some of the other relevant policy documents that culminated or fed into the NFP and PoA were reviewed and a selected number of public, private and NGO sector actors were consulted/interviewed to assess the extent to which the existing policies and strategies were (i) up to date, consistent and synergistic with the three dimensions of food security (availability, access and nutrition or utilization) and (ii) facilitating or limiting the participation of the private and NGO sectors in the proposed CIP programs alongside the public sector for achievement of the CIP objectives with respect to availability dimension of food security.