The objective, therefore, should not be to prevent farmers from pursuing more profitable crops. Farmers deserve economic agility. The challenge is to create an agricultural system in which producing essential food grains remains economically viable alongside other profitable agricultural opportunities.
Food security is a public good. If the nation needs farmers to grow food for everyone, the nation must also ensure that growing food is a viable livelihood for farmers.
This brings us to another fundamental question: who should bear the cost of the country’s food security?
We, as taxpayers, contribute to the national economy with the expectation that public resources will be invested for the country’s collective wellbeing. But how much of that contribution is effectively directed towards the smallholder farmers who produce the food that sustains us? If food security is a national priority, why should a portion of public resources (tax payer money) not be deliberately earmarked to support those who produce essential food grains?
Perhaps it is time to think beyond conventional agricultural subsidies and imagine a more farmer-centred food-security mechanism. We have already built an extensive network of public services—from helplines and police stations to community clinics and other institutions—designed to reach communities through a nested, locally accessible system. Why not develop a similar mechanism for farmers to safeguard their staple crops?
Why could we not establish an accessible “crop bank” or community grain bank, where farmers could deposit surplus rice after harvest and receive payment or financial support in return? Such a system could allow farmers to retain enough grain for household consumption while providing a secure and reliable channel for managing their surplus.
As we know, the government already operates public procurement and grain-storage mechanisms in Bangladesh. However, the governance of these systems remains a concern. The challenge is to make them more accessible, transparent, predictable, and genuinely farmer-friendly, particularly for smallholders.
If we want the farmers to continue producing the food grains that feed us, should we not be willing to pay a price that makes food production economically worthwhile for them?
