For drama and intrigue, the story of food policy reform in Bangladesh is difficult to match.

This chapter examines food-aid trends and motivations and their impact in Bangladesh.

The Government of India issued a wartime Proclamation of Emergency on September 3, 1939, empowering the federal government to enact legislation on any subject it deemed proper—even areas normally within the sole purview of the provincial legislatu

Since the 1940s, the Ministry of Food and its predecessor agencies have been the single largest purchaser, importer, stockholder, and distributor of foodgrains in Bangladesh.

Foodgrain consumption dominates household spending in Bangladesh. On average, rice and wheat consumption accounts for 50 percent of total household expenditure, with this share rising to 64 percent for the poorest households (BBS 1995).

Bangladesh's Green Revolution in foodgrain production has triggered a marketing revolution of far greater proportions.

As recommended by the Agricultural Commission of 1960, the East Pakistan Agricultural Development Corporation was established in 1963.

Bangladesh faces huge obstacles in its efforts to increase foodgrain production, raise rural incomes, and reduce food insecurity.

Two gruesome famines visited Bengal—in 1943 and 1974—on the heels of two great wars. The first descended amid the terrors of World War II, while the second followed in the wake of Bangladesh's brutal war of liberation.