Food insecurity is haunting our poor
According to the latest World Food Programme's (WFP) survey report, in August 2023, about 24 percent of Bangladesh's population (or, 40 million people) were food-insecure, a trend observed to be increasing since May this year. Food insecurity means that people do not have enough food or the right kind of food to meet their nutritional needs and lead a healthy and active life. This, of course, can have negative impacts on people's physical and mental health, education, livelihoods, and social cohesion.
The WFP survey revealed that 47 percent of the food-insecure were in low-income households, compared to nine percent in medium-income households, and less than three percent in high-income households. The survey also revealed that 30 percent of the households reported insufficient food consumption and 74 percent of households reported buying small quantities and less expensive food from the market. The consumption of micronutrient-rich food decreased for all households. Concerns over high food prices remained prominent; some 71 percent of households reported that this rise was their deepest concern and significantly affected their well-being. More households relied on negative coping strategies to put food on the table. More than seven in ten households applied livelihood-based coping strategies such as borrowing money, selling productive assets, or going into debt to buy food.
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The picture emerging from the WFP survey is not very different from the findings of SANEM in March this year, from a survey on 1,600 low-income households in eight divisions to examine the impact of inflation on their living conditions. The survey revealed that over 70 percent of poor households had reduced their food consumption, especially for meat, fish and eggs, and had opted for low-quality food. The survey also showed that the main coping mechanisms of these poor households were changing food habits, borrowing money, spending less on health, education, and clothing, and depleting their savings. Ninety percent of the poor households said they had changed their food habits, and more than half of the households had slashed essential non-food spending. Moreover, 75 percent of poor households depended on borrowing from various microcredit and other informal sources at high interest rates, which increased their chances of falling into a debt trap.
No doubt, Bangladesh is facing an unprecedented inflation situation which has reached its highest level in 11 years. Inflation erodes the real income of people, especially that of the poor, who have less purchasing power to even afford their basic needs.
The aforementioned food insecurity situation in Bangladesh is primarily due to the erratic nature of food prices in the domestic market, which has remained unmanageable for a long period of time. From February 2022 to September 2023, the country's monthly inflation rate (point-to-point) increased from 6.2 percent to nearly 10 percent. Since August 2022, the monthly inflation rates have remained well above 8.5 percent. More worryingly, the food inflation rate has gone over 12 percent in recent months.
No doubt, Bangladesh is facing an unprecedented inflation situation which has reached its highest level in 11 years. Inflation erodes the real income of people, especially that of the poor, who have less purchasing power to even afford their basic needs.
The soaring food prices, coupled with falling real income, pose a serious challenge for the poor in terms of accessing adequate and nutritious food. The situation is worse for those who have limited employment opportunities or insecure jobs, especially in the informal sector, where they have no protection or benefits. Most of the poor are forced to resort to their savings or going into debt to cover their daily expenses, but these options are also limited for many others.
The case of food insecurity in Bangladesh represents the "entitlement failure" of poor people to food. Entitlement failure is a term coined by economist and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen. According to Sen, entitlement failure occurs when people lose their ability to acquire food through legal means, such as production, trade, or transfer. Entitlement failure can happen even when there is no shortage of food at the aggregate level, but rather a change in the distribution or exchange of food. This situation can emerge because of a rise in food prices due to inflation, speculation, and hoarding, which can make food unaffordable for many poor people. Entitlement failure can also result from social and political factors—such as discrimination, corruption, conflict, or displacement—that limit people's access to food and resources. The concept of entitlement failure questions the traditional view that food insecurity happens only due to food scarcity, while highlighting the importance of social and economic rights and justice for achieving food security.
To address food insecurity in Bangladesh, there is first a need to ensure an adequate supply of food items in the market by substantially increasing domestic production of crops, facilitating timely sourcing of critical food imports, and finding alternative import sources.
The government's social protection programmes for the underprivileged also need to be significantly expanded. The extent and frequency of the distribution of subsidised food items need to be enhanced.
Thirdly, our market monitoring mechanisms require significant improvement. Domestic market management, which involves overseeing the market and enforcing laws and rules to stop unfair practices, is too weak in Bangladesh and frequently causes food prices to rise without any valid reasons. The government bodies in charge of stopping unfair practices by big companies in the market must realise their roles here.
Additionally, the implementation of pro-poor policies and programmes is necessary, as these can enhance people's income opportunities, access to assets and services, social protection systems, and resilience to shocks.
Sustainable agricultural practices also need to be promoted in order to increase productivity, diversify crops, conserve natural resources, adapt to climate change, and reduce post-harvest losses.
Finally, spreading nutrition awareness among people, especially women and children, needs to be improved to stress on the importance of a balanced diet that includes essential micronutrients.
By taking these actions, Bangladesh can not only improve its food security, but can also achieve broader development goals. After all, a more food-secure society is a more prosperous and peaceful society.
Dr Selim Raihan is professor at the Department of Economics in the University of Dhaka, and executive director at the South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (Sanem). He can be reached at [email protected]
Views expressed in this article are the author's own.
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