Issues of food and poverty
Imtiyaz Hussain | Tuesday, 24 June 2008
BANGLADESH has been consistently producing record harvests of foodgrains in recent years. This should lead to a conclusion that the rate of consumption of rice or wheat is rising or remains at a reasonably satisfactory level. But these assumptions have been challenged now by a joint study conducted by the Dhaka University (DU) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). The related study report contends that nearly 60 per cent or 36 million people out of those, who are regarded officially as the non-poor in the country, actually suffer from food poverty. Although this study has been criticised by the World Bank (WB) for drawing conclusions after examining too few samples (the sample size should be a lot bigger for real determinative value, according to the WB), there are grounds to think seriously about the findings of the joint study.
For, food productivity and availability is one thing and its distribution or purchase is another. Amartya Sen, in his seminal works, had shown how food production may not have so crucial a relation with food consumption or poverty alleviation. There may be mountains of food near at hand but the consumption of the same are vitally determined by purchasing power, the priorities of the consumers and other changing factors.
It has been a truism observed in the Bangladesh context that inflation or higher prices have been progressively putting more and more pressures on the family budgets of persons of modest means. They are ranked above the categories of the poor in official measures of poverty. But the measures can be flawed for not adjusting to rates of price escalations or upwards movements in the costs of living or more specifically to the rise in the price of foodgrains compared to the declining purchasing power of the consumers. For example, the price of ordinary types of rice used to be Taka 24 per kg only about a year ago. The same rice is now selling for Taka 30 or above per kg . Thus, the price rise of the basic staple in the diet for common people have risen not marginally but substantially in a period of 12 months whereas their purchasing power remains unchanged or has further gone down, in actual terms, due to the generally depressed economic situation and inflation.
Findings of research, conducted by different independent as well as official bodies, have been quite uniform, indicating that the consumption of daily essentials such as food had been declining alarmingly due to price escalation and diminishing earning opportunities for even those, who were above the poverty line. The studies indicate that the poor have been getting poorer and many others have lost their previous status to join the ranks of the poor although these regressive developments can not be measured by stereotype assessment methods. The efficacy of the poverty alleviation programmes has come in into questions.
The solution lies in inter-related activities in many fronts. The purchasing power of the rural and urban poor must be improved through supportive measures in many sectors. The situation calls for the creation of conditions for sustainable occupations for them. Besides, the government needs to go for planned intervention to create employment opportunities.
The rising costs of living must be put under a leash. This can be done by developing an efficient and incorruptible system to make essentials -- specially foodstuffs -- cheaper. Wages, salaries as well as the prices paid to producers at the grass roots, all will have to be adjusted within the bounds of reason and feasibility, to increase the incomes of people so that they can afford the essentials, particularly basic foods.
For, food productivity and availability is one thing and its distribution or purchase is another. Amartya Sen, in his seminal works, had shown how food production may not have so crucial a relation with food consumption or poverty alleviation. There may be mountains of food near at hand but the consumption of the same are vitally determined by purchasing power, the priorities of the consumers and other changing factors.
It has been a truism observed in the Bangladesh context that inflation or higher prices have been progressively putting more and more pressures on the family budgets of persons of modest means. They are ranked above the categories of the poor in official measures of poverty. But the measures can be flawed for not adjusting to rates of price escalations or upwards movements in the costs of living or more specifically to the rise in the price of foodgrains compared to the declining purchasing power of the consumers. For example, the price of ordinary types of rice used to be Taka 24 per kg only about a year ago. The same rice is now selling for Taka 30 or above per kg . Thus, the price rise of the basic staple in the diet for common people have risen not marginally but substantially in a period of 12 months whereas their purchasing power remains unchanged or has further gone down, in actual terms, due to the generally depressed economic situation and inflation.
Findings of research, conducted by different independent as well as official bodies, have been quite uniform, indicating that the consumption of daily essentials such as food had been declining alarmingly due to price escalation and diminishing earning opportunities for even those, who were above the poverty line. The studies indicate that the poor have been getting poorer and many others have lost their previous status to join the ranks of the poor although these regressive developments can not be measured by stereotype assessment methods. The efficacy of the poverty alleviation programmes has come in into questions.
The solution lies in inter-related activities in many fronts. The purchasing power of the rural and urban poor must be improved through supportive measures in many sectors. The situation calls for the creation of conditions for sustainable occupations for them. Besides, the government needs to go for planned intervention to create employment opportunities.
The rising costs of living must be put under a leash. This can be done by developing an efficient and incorruptible system to make essentials -- specially foodstuffs -- cheaper. Wages, salaries as well as the prices paid to producers at the grass roots, all will have to be adjusted within the bounds of reason and feasibility, to increase the incomes of people so that they can afford the essentials, particularly basic foods.