The World Food Programme (WFP) carried out a survey on food security over a four-month period (May - August, 2023) titled 'Remote Household Food Security Survey' to find out the impact of the monsoon season on food supplies and the findings are rather alarming. It has found that food security has been adversely affected by recurrent natural disasters during the monsoon season. Indeed, food security varies across divisions, population and climate hotspots. It is concerning that about 24 per cent households were found to be food-insecure on an average in August. The impact of El Nino was felt throughout the country with delayed rainfall and more heat waves in Chattogram and Sylhet divisions. There were heat waves in Rajshahi and across the country, natural disasters like cyclones and landslides occurred.
The worse affected were female-headed households with disabilities, generally constituting the lower income group. The survey revealed the 47 per cent of this group was food-insecure compared to 9.0 per cent in medium-income households and less than 3.0 per cent in high-income households. The biggest shock came from high food prices, impact of disasters and loss of income. Seventy-one per cent of households surveyed expressed anxiety over sustained high food prices.
These shocks have resulted in many households living on credit for the purpose of purchasing food and other essential items. Their number increased to 46 per cent in August compared with 32 per cent of households in May. Naturally lower-income group suffered the most from food insecurity. A look at the division-wise data shows that Chattogram suffered the most with 58 per cent, Sylhet division with 53 per cent where low-income households took the brunt of the impact.
Looking at the broader picture, three out 10 households (30 per cent) were hard pressed to provide adequate diets to family members. On an average, 70 per cent of households across eight divisions had "acceptable diet". Again, 74 per cent of households also stated that they were buying small quantities of food and generally avoiding expensive food from the market. Overall, micronutrient-rich food decreased for all households over the last quarter. What is of concern is that a large percentage of households from high and middle-income group households relied on emergency coping mechanisms that included "purchasing food on credit, selling productive asset lands, and spending savings. Negative coping has been observed for a long time spiking in April and increasing until August." Income instability has had a big impact on food-based coping strategies to varying degrees but the hardest hit naturally were low-income groups in society.
Food inflation is at an all time high. Month-on-month prices of essential food commodities like lentils, wheat, poultry, egg, chili, garlic have taken the wind out of consumers over the last six months. Households have complained about loss of income / employment and rise in health expenditure - both of which have negatively impacted food intake. Expenditures by poor households increased across most divisions, especially for food, health and education coupled with reported loss of employment (31 per cent). Over the March-August period, 45 respondents reported a fall in income and only six per cent stated an increase. Low-income group members who are overly dependent on agriculture and petty trading were the hardest hit.
Bangladesh is not an island. The present global hunger and malnutrition problems have been compounded by multiple factors. The WFP estimates that more than 345 million in 79 countries "are facing acute levels of food insecurity in 2023, and do not know where their next meal is coming from. That is more than double the number in 2020. This constitutes a staggering rise of 200 million people compared to pre-Covid-19 pandemic levels." Climate shocks that have happened globally, including Bangladesh, leave behind destroyed crops and livelihoods which inevitably undercut people's ability to feed themselves.
As with all natural disasters, agricultural activities are always severely impacted. There is a need to bolster early warning systems and increasing community trust in such systems. Data show that only half the populace recognises its vulnerability to floods and only a third receives timely alerts. Mitigation tactics, such as elevated households need to be promoted as viable resilient housing. Looking beyond physical safety, there is also the question of financial challenges. Resilience in this area points to developing diverse livelihood strategies. This is easier said than done of course. The manner in which the populace has been pummelled by skyrocketing prices has been relentless and most punishing. The administration needs to work out better delivery mechanisms to ensure that food and cash packages reach the affected low-income groups.
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