VZCZCXRO4224
OO RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDBU RUEHLH RUEHNEH RUEHPW
DE RUEHKA #0026/01 0100914
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 100914Z JAN 10
FM AMEMBASSY DHAKA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9849
INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUEHRC/USDA FAS WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 DHAKA 000026 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR C - CMILLS, MPLOWDEN, CHUANG 
DEPT FOR EEB/TPP/ABT - GCLEMENTS, GSPENCER 
DEPT ALSO FOR SCA/INSB 
DEPT PASS USAID/EGAT - JLEWIS, FMOORE, AWILLIAMS 
NEW DELHI FOR FAS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAGR ECON EAID PREL PGOV SOCI KPAO KWMN BG
SUBJECT:  BANGLADESH MISSION FOOD SECURITY DIPLOMACY AND DEVELOPMENT 
STRATEGY 
 
REF: STATE 124059 
 
------- 
SUMMARY 
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¶1. (SBU) Bangladesh and the U.S. diplomatic-development team at 
Embassy Dhaka (Mission Dhaka) are well-positioned to maximize the 
opportunities presented by the USG's Global Hunger and Food Security 
Initiative.  Mission Dhaka will capitalize on the political will of 
Bangladesh's leaders and our whole-of-government operating platform 
to address the underlying causes of hunger, poverty and food 
insecurity in Bangladesh.  Almost nowhere else on the planet is food 
security more urgently needed.  Bangladesh's population is half the 
size of the United States, yet squeezed into a landmass the size of 
Iowa, and faces natural and man-made threats, from rising sea levels 
and melting glaciers upstream to violent extremism.  Tackling food 
security in Bangladesh will not only contribute to economic growth, 
but can help the nation adapt to climate change and maintain its 
tradition of moderate, tolerant Islam.  Mission Dhaka's diplomacy 
and development strategy is keyed to the five principles of the food 
security initiative. (reftel) 
 
------------------------- 
¶I. Comprehensive Approach 
------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) A comprehensive approach to food security advances 
agriculture-led growth, reduces under-nutrition, and increases the 
impact of humanitarian food assistance.  The Government of 
Bangladesh's (GOB's) National Food Policy Plan of Action has three 
thematic areas:  food availability, economic access to food, and 
nutrition/utilization of food.  Guided by both the GOB's plans and 
the USG's food security principles, U.S. Mission Dhaka's food 
security task force has identified four broad areas for potential 
USG action: 
 
--Family planning and maternal and infant nutrition; 
--Sustainable agriculture (includes climate change and adaptation) 
and agriculture-based economic growth; 
--Safety net programs and non-emergency food aid programming; and, 
--Governance and capacity building as a cross-cutting issue to 
support i) GOB policy formation at the national level and ii) policy 
implementation and management/delivery of services in food security 
related sectors at the local level. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Each of these four areas will require efforts involving 
diplomacy, development and policy reform.  Mission Dhaka enjoys 
unparalleled access to key decision-makers in Bangladesh, and we 
already are engaging on food security at all levels, from the Prime 
Minister on down.  As we engage with the GOB, donors and other 
partners, we also will implement a public outreach strategy to 
ensure public support and highlight U.S. assistance to Bangladesh. 
 
¶4.  (U) An upcoming target of opportunity to engage with the GOB, 
civil society, and donors on food security will be the Bangladesh 
Development Forum scheduled for the end of February.  This will be 
the largest gathering of Bangladesh development actors in several 
years.  Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will chair the Forum, and food 
security will be one of the top items on the agenda. 
 
Family Planning and Nutrition 
----------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) In the area of family planning and nutrition, 
unsustainable population growth threatens to overtake growth in food 
production.  Severe under-nutrition fosters a recurring cycle of 
poverty.  While Bangladesh has significantly reduced its population 
growth rate, population growth continues to threaten development 
progress.  Bangladesh needs to revitalize its family planning 
program and better integrate it into development programs more 
broadly.  Child nutrition and maternal health practices are 
especially weak in Bangladesh, in part because of cultural beliefs 
that harm, rather than help, women and children.  Changing these 
beliefs and behaviors will require active engagement at a variety of 
levels, through development programs, outreach to government and 
community leaders, and public diplomacy. 
 
Sustainable Agriculture and Economic Growth 
------------------------------ 
 
¶6.  (SBU) In the area of sustainable agriculture and 
agriculture-based economic growth, the challenges we will address 
include: 
 
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--low agricultural productivity; 
--underdeveloped internal markets for agricultural products; 
--a constrained business environment that hinders private sector 
investment; 
--environmental degradation and climate change that puts additional 
pressure on agricultural productivity and land; and, 
--a failure by successive governments to mobilize and target 
agricultural resources to achieve broad-based economic growth. 
 
The GOB's current focus on agricultural productivity centers on rice 
production and managing disasters.  The USG will work with the GOB 
to broaden this emphasis and expand the environment for diversified 
agricultural production and integration into regional markets. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) In addition to development programs, diplomatic and policy 
efforts in this area will focus on improving Bangladesh's business 
and investment climate; identifying policies and mechanisms to 
ensure better inclusion of women and the ultra-poor in agriculture 
and economic growth activities; promoting technologies, including 
biotechnology, that support agriculture productivity and 
sustainability; and supporting efforts to connect agriculture and 
food security with conservation and climate change adaptation and 
mitigation. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Mission Dhaka will also continue its efforts to encourage 
market-based solutions.  Many in Bangladesh, including some of its 
top leaders, identify philosophically with public sector solutions 
despite widespread evidence that the private sector is the best 
driver for growth.  Similarly, Mission Dhaka will continue to 
promote expansion and diversification in a range of areas, from 
agricultural production to trade to financing mechanisms. 
 
Safety net programs and non-emergency food aid 
----------------------------- 
 
¶9.  (SBU) In the area of safety net programs and non-emergency food 
aid programming, Mission Dhaka will seek to support efforts to make 
social safety net programs more efficient, better targeted and 
transparent.  Bangladesh's leaders use social safety net programs as 
a political as well as an economic and social tool.  It will require 
efforts at all levels of the USG to ensure the GOB focuses on 
economic and social, rather than political, outcomes of social 
safety net programs. 
 
Governance and capacity building 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶10.  (SBU) The politicization of issues of national interest, 
over-centralization of government, and weak capacity and 
polarization within the bureaucracy are major challenges to the 
success of the food security initiative.  Mission Dhaka will work at 
all levels, including through public outreach, to ensure these 
challenges do not become barriers to success.  Mission Dhaka will 
also need to serve as an "institutional memory" on food security for 
succeeding governments and will need to ensure that successive GOB 
leaders do not throw the baby out with the bath water in their 
efforts to distinguish themselves from their predecessors. 
 
-------------------- 
II. Country-led Plan 
-------------------- 
 
¶11.  (SBU) Bangladesh's Awami League government has proclaimed food 
security its top priority.  "Controlling food prices" was the Awami 
League's main slogan during the December 2008 campaign that led to 
the party's landslide victory in national elections.  When the GOB 
says it wants to "control food prices," it means it wants to ensure 
food security. 
 
¶12.  (SBU) A number of national plans already exist that focus on 
food security in Bangladesh.  They include: 
 
--the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper II; 
--the National Food Policy Plan of Action; 
--the National Plan of Action for Nutrition; and, 
--the Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan. 
 
While these plans are comprehensive inventories of problems and 
potential solutions, they fail to target resources, specify 
achievable priorities, identify resources or spell out 
implementation mechanisms.  Mission Dhaka, especially USAID, has 
already worked with the GOB to develop these plans, in particular 
the National Food Policy Plan of Action, and has begun the process 
 
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of helping the GOB to refine priorities and link priority actions to 
the national budget.  Mission Dhaka's diplomacy and development 
strategy has identified aspects of these plans the USG is best- 
positioned to support.  At the same time we will encourage the GOB 
and other partners to fill gaps and pursue a comprehensive approach 
to poverty and food insecurity. 
 
¶13.  (SBU) One of the many challenges to tackling food security in 
Bangladesh is the plethora of GOB agencies involved in various 
aspects of food security.  Some ten ministries, including Finance, 
Agriculture, Food and Disaster Management, Health and Family 
Welfare, Women and Children Affairs, Fisheries and Livestock, and 
Environment and Forest, plus the Parliament, play a role in food 
security.  GOB agencies operate like stove pipes and do not 
adequately communicate with each other, except at the level of 
Minister.  In addition, there are differing views on food security 
among the ministries and officials, delineation of responsibility is 
often vague or overlapping, and in some cases there is little or no 
accountability for results. 
 
¶14. (SBU) Mission Dhaka, which actively engages with most of 
Bangladesh's 30-plus ministries, already works to promote 
inter-ministerial communication.  As the food security initiative 
moves forward, Mission Dhaka will pay special attention to involving 
all appropriate ministries at various levels.  Through diplomacy, 
development and public outreach, Mission Dhaka will encourage 
consensus within government and among other partners on Bangladesh's 
food security activities.  Given the challenges inherent in 
developing a consensus among many actors, the timeline for achieving 
consensus will evolve as USG interventions take place.  At a 
minimum, we will implement identified priorities as we work toward 
consensus. 
 
¶15.  (SBU) Since August 2009, Mission Dhaka has engaged at all 
levels with government, civil society and the private sector to 
highlight President Obama's commitment to global food security.  We 
ensured that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina represented Bangladesh at 
the roundtable on food security hosted in September by the Secretary 
and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on the margins of the UN 
General Assembly.  As the USG's plans on food security became more 
focused, in October and November the Ambassador and others engaged 
in discussions with a range of Ministers and other high-level 
officials regarding Bangladesh's designation as a food security 
focus country.  We leveraged VIP visits such as that of 
Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues Melanne Verveer to 
highlight USG food security priorities.  Mission Dhaka will continue 
to seek such opportunities to shape Bangladesh food security policy, 
in addition to regular engagement.  Potential occasions for 
significant dialogue with the GOB in the near term include the 
Bangladesh Development Forum in late February 2010, the annual U.S. 
trade show sponsored by the American Chamber of Commerce Bangladesh 
and upcoming high-level visits by Washington officials. 
 
---------------------------------- 
III. Global, Regional, Local Coordination 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶16.  (SBU) Mission Dhaka's integrated working environment makes it 
ideally suited to the food security initiative's whole-of-government 
approach.  Our food security task force includes representatives 
from USAID, State and USDA, and coordinates with the Mission's 
Economic Working Group, which also includes representatives from 
Public Affairs, DOJ and DOD.  Food security and broad-based economic 
growth are core objectives of Mission Dhaka's strategic plan, which 
the Mission reviews on a quarterly basis, usually in conjunction 
with the Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and 
Stabilization.  This in turn feeds into the annual Mission Strategic 
Plan (MSP) process and will inform our contributions to the 
Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR).  Mission 
Dhaka's MSP was named best MSP of the year in 2009. 
 
¶17.  (SBU) Mission Dhaka's working group mechanism ensures a high 
degree of coordination and minimizes gaps.  Our working groups, 
including the food security task force, regularly meet with 
counterparts outside the USG.  For example, as we prepared our 
Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative (GHFSI) implementation 
plan, we enlisted officials from the Food and Agricultural 
Organization (FAO) and the World Food Program (WFP) to brief us on 
Bangladesh's food, particularly rice, situation.  Mission Dhaka also 
incorporates public diplomacy into all objectives and will seek 
opportunities to showcase the food security initiative for the 
Bangladesh public. 
 
¶18.  (SBU) As part of our GHFSI implementation plan, USAID 
 
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Bangladesh intends to create a new, full-time position to serve as 
country coordinator for all GHFSI activities.  Guided by the 
inter-agency food security task force, the country coordinator will 
serve as the focal point for food security activities, from programs 
to policy guidance to public outreach. 
 
-------------------------------- 
IV. Leveraging Multilateral Institutions 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶19.  (SBU) Bangladesh has a large and active donor community of 
which Mission Dhaka is a leading member.  Donors, including the main 
multilateral institutions, interact regularly with the GOB and each 
other through a Local Consultative Group (LCG) structure that 
includes topic-focused sub-groups.  The LCG sub-group most relevant 
to the GHFS Initiative is the Agriculture and Food Security 
sub-group.  USAID has already presented the broad outlines of the 
GHFS Initiative objectives and will continue to use this sub-group 
as a platform for communication with the donor partners.  Key 
members of the sub-group include the U.K. Department for 
International Development (DfID), the European Union, Denmark, the 
Netherlands, FAO, the World Food Program (WFP), World Bank, and the 
Asian Development Bank (ADB). 
 
¶20.  (SBU) Mission Dhaka's food security task force also has 
identified a number of bilateral and multi-lateral institutions that 
will be key partners in the four priority areas identified for USG 
investment: family planning and nutrition, sustainable agriculture, 
safety net and non-emergency food aid programs, and governance and 
capacity-building.  Existing and planned programs by donors and 
institutions like WFP, the World Bank, FAO, the UN Development 
Program (UNDP), DfID, the European Union, UNICEF, Germany's 
Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), the Embassy of 
Denmark, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) 
and the International Center for Diarrheal Disease Research, 
Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) in particular will complement USG efforts on 
food security. 
 
¶21.  (SBU) In addition to working through the LCG structure, Mission 
Dhaka will continue to interact with bilateral and multilateral 
counterparts both at the working level and at the level of 
Ambassador, USAID Mission Director and Agricultural Attache.  The 
food security task force solicited input from donors for our 
implementation plan.  The food security initiative is now a regular 
component of our discussions with donors and other partners. 
 
-------------------------------- 
¶V. Sustained and Accountable Commitment 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶22.  (SBU) U.S. support for Bangladesh and its development, 
including food security, dates to Bangladesh's independence.  Since 
1971, the United States has provided Bangladesh with more than $5 
billion in assistance, more than half of that food aid.  GOB leaders 
and Bangladeshis more broadly recognize the vital role we have 
played in its development, and they welcome further engagement, 
particularly on food security.  The Global Hunger and Food Security 
Initiative, then, represents a continuation and expansion of an 
already-close partnership.  Though Bangladesh's food security 
situation remains dire, it has improved greatly in the nation's 
37-year history, in part due to U.S. support. 
 
¶23.  (SBU) The strong U.S.-Bangladesh relationship will aid efforts 
to encourage and shape Bangladesh's response to food insecurity. 
Raising incomes, increasing agricultural productivity, mitigating 
the effects of climate change on agricultural productivity, 
diversifying the food basket, establishing market-based systems, 
changing infant and young child feeding practices, and more 
transparent and reliable safety net programs are all elements of a 
successful, long-term food security program.  This will require 
sustained political will, both in Bangladesh and in donor countries, 
to keep hunger and poverty at the top of the world development 
agenda.  The additional resources committed under the GHFS 
Initiative will, for the first time in over a decade, allow the USG 
to make a credible, long-term commitment to addressing poverty and 
food security through broad-based economic growth driven by 
increased agricultural productivity and diversification. 
 
¶24.  (SBU) Building Bangladesh's internal capacity to meet these 
goals and be accountable for results will also require substantial 
reform and intelligent allocation of public resources.  Lasting 
change can only come if there is strong political will and long term 
commitment to focus public resources more efficiently and 
effectively on reform and capacity improvement. 
 
DHAKA 00000026  005 OF 005 
 
 
 
¶25. (SBU) The magnitude of the potential funding for Bangladesh on 
food security and other development initiatives will allow the USG 
to play an even stronger leadership role in engaging other donors 
and the GOB to shape national policies that can significantly impact 
the long term food security situation in Bangladesh.  Mission Dhaka 
will leverage the strong U.S.-Bangladesh relationship to maintain 
momentum on food security.  The convergence of U.S. commitment, the 
will of Bangladesh's top leaders and the public recognition of the 
extent of food insecurity here should help propel Bangladesh to new 
levels of development and break its cycle of hunger and poverty. 
 
Moriarty