A losing battle against hunger!

Bangladesh has slipped 16 notches below in the global hunger index (GHI) from last year's 57th position to 73rd with a score of 27.3. Last year its score was 19.1. The score measured on a scale of 0-100, denotes the absence of hunger in a country if the score is 0 and the higher the score is the acuter the hunger. In 2013, the country moved 10 spots up to the 58th from its 68th ranking in 2012. After two consecutive years' gain in fighting hunger, this plunge looks rather intriguing.
The country has not suffered any major natural calamity this year nor has there been any reversal in food production. Then what really has gone wrong for the country? Released last Monday by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide, Bangladesh, the GHI does not paint a rosy picture of the country in terms of the fight against hunger except that it fares better than its close neighbours. Doing better than the neighbours is small consolation when a country fails to maintain its position or gains. Among the 117 countries covered by the GHI, the 73rd position gives no positive indication.
This is confirmed by the observation of the report where it mentions that Bangladesh is suffering from 'alarming level of hunger.' The contention, as such, is not out of place. But if in the previous two years the country could make notable progress in fighting hunger, what has gone amiss to make such an unwelcome difference?
That the GHI has taken into account four indicators like undernourishment, child wasting, child stunting and child mortality is quite logical for understanding the availability of foods for a nation. Maybe, the wide difference in the index score is due to inclusion of child stunting in place of underweight. Babies born underweight do not necessarily indicate the impact of food deficiency on mother and child health. The growing stage of childhood from babyhood is what makes a more or less accurate reading of the state of hunger.
Wasting and stunting are correlated. Child stunting can happen in families not wanting in foods. Children may suffer from malnutrition on account of lack of the required knowledge of the kind of foods to be fed or improper feeding habit. During the 1,000 days starting from pregnancy, both mother and baby must be fed with the recommended foods rich with vitamins, minerals and other components if the intention is not to negatively interfere with proper child growth. The replacement of underweight of children with child stunting has been done in order to get a clearer picture of balanced foods or the lack of those.
The greater part of Bangladesh's slip in the GHI index is most likely to be attributed to this change in indicator. But then there may be economic reasons as well. Society is getting polarised fast. In villages, there has been an upward move by poor families with members capable of giving labour. They are yet to organise themselves in favour of quality life. On the other hand, families boasting large areas of cultivable lands with no working hands are on the steep decline, in economic terms.
One of the reasons is the drastic price fall of rice and high wages for farm labour. Big farmers are the worst sufferers in today's Bangladesh. Cost of paddy cultivation is higher than the market price of rice at the growers' level. Only smarter farmers have been able to withstand the reverse wind by shifting to alternative incomes. Fish farming or vegetable and fruit cultivation has been an option for some but the majority are in a fix. They do not know how to weather this adverse trend of farming.
It is exactly at this level hidden hunger exists. Families have to camouflage their acute pecuniary crisis by maintaining an outward solvency. Then there is yet another class lacking in any wealth including landed property. They simply live on their day-to-day labour. Victims of river erosion and other natural calamities or serious diseases only add to the number of this category of population. They are simply misfit for any livelihood.
According to Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen's theory, maldistribution rather than want of foods is responsible for hunger. To its credit or perhaps shame, Bangladesh has been able to present a picture of artificial affluence sending its acute crisis of foods for some segments of the people behind the scene.
The other day, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina faced one such crisis squarely when she reiterated her government's resolve to feed the floating children who have no homes to return. Known as 'Tokais' these wretched souls are deprived of not foods alone but also of the minimum of warmth and care needed for human bonding. The Prime Minister stated that if 160 million can be fed, they must as well be covered under a programme.
Given the various food programmes for the vulnerable groups, this is not a difficult proposition. But feeding alone is not enough. Also staple alone does not make foods. Pervasive economic discrimination is at the root of creating conditions where some are deprived of their right to basic necessities, let alone the components of a quality life.
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