FAOR, Mike Robson, recently hosted a lunchtime discussion with Mahfuz Enam, editor of the Dhaka Daily Star, the leading English language newspaper in Bangladesh on media coverage of issues relating to food security and nutrition.  He was accompanied by three of his reporting team.  FAOR was also supported by his senior advisor Md A. Sattar Mandal, and programme assistant, Halima Neyamat.  Discussions focused on the way that certain topics have tended to be covered in the media generally (and not specifically the Daily Star) in an over-simplified way, and that there may be scope for collaboration to promote a more in-depth analysis.  The discussion identified some of the kinds of topic which could be covered including the relative importance of food security and nutrition security; groundwater depletion; food safety and adulteration; the rate of loss of agricultural land to other uses; the fact that not all environmental issues in Bangladesh are due to climate change; and the positive role of so called “middlemen” in the functioning of agricultural markets, etc.

After a long and free ranging discussion, both FAO and Daily Star agreed in principle to collaborate further over the coming months.