Country Investment Plan.

The Country Investment Plan (Plan) is a roadmap towards investment in agriculture, food security and nutrition in Bangladesh. It is a five-year comprehensive plan with national coverage that aims to ensure sustainable food security which entered into force in 2011. The Plan provides a coherent set of 12 priority investment programmes to improve food security and nutrition in an integrated way divided into three components: 1) food availability, 2) food access, and 3) food utilization. The Plan will seek to plan and invest resources in a coordinated way, addressing the three dimensions of food security through an integrated approach; to increase convergence of domestic and external sources of funding in support of agriculture, food security and nutrition; to mobilize additional resources from the national budget and from external partners, and to monitor commitments, pledges, expenses and remaining gaps; and to monitor and evaluate investments in food security and prescribe remedial measures to activities that requires strengtheningThe Plan is comprehensive in that it addresses the three dimensions of food security — availability, access and nutrition — in an integrated way. The Plan seeks to cover investment in Infrastructure (including facilities, equipment and materials), information (including studies, generation and propagation of information through research and advisory services), institutions (including strengthening physical and human capacities of institutions, streamlining operational modalities, training, staff motivation and awareness) and innovations. The Plan aims at linking food availability, food access and food utilization, in particular by shaping food availability proposals - mostly related to agriculture - so that they enhance access and improve nutrition of the most food insecure and malnourished.The Plan will seek sustainable and diversified agriculture through integrated research and extension; improved water resource management and infrastructure for irrigation purposes; improved quality of inputs and soil fertility; fisheries and aquaculture development; livestock development, with a focus on poultry and dairy production; and strengthened capacities for implementation and monitoring of this Strategy.The Plan will seek to reduce rural poverty through the development of value chains that contribute to increased rural incomes and employment opportunitiesPublic goods financed by the Plan will aim to directly increase production of, access to and balanced utilization of nutritious food; enable increased investment by smallholder producers; and encourage / leverage private investment through the promotion of Public-Private Partnerships. The Plan will seek improved access to market, value addition in agriculture and non-farm incomes; enhanced public food management system; food safety and quality improvement; institutional development and capacity development for more effective safety nets; community based nutrition programmes and services; and orient food and nutrition actions through data.The Plan will build the capacities of the Ministry of Food and Disaster Management and Directorate of Food to better manage the food system through capacity building interventions to handle public food distribution systems. This includes staff training in all spheres of public food management and effective responses to emergencies and improving supervisory and monitoring activities through logistics support. In addition, the plan will increase and modernize public storage and handling facilities, including in disaster prone areas. The Plan will seek to build modern storage facilities that are better equipped to adapt to the climate change impacts and resist disaster shocks; repair and rehabilitate existing warehouses; and improve ambient environment of stocks to maintain quality and increase shelf life. These interventions are aimed towards speeding up strategic response capacity, reducing cost and storage loss, maintaining food quality and safety and adapting to the climatic impacts.The Food Planning and Monitoring Committee, a cabinet-level committee representing the ministers and secretaries of the ministries concerned with food security, will be responsible for providing political guidance and orientation. In addition, a national committee, a food policy and working group and thematic teams will support the implementation of the Plan.