Food insecurity in Bangladesh has worsened alarmingly in recent time, mainly due to the fallouts of the Covid-19 pandemic followed by rising prices of essential food items, according to the findings of a latest survey.
Economists expressed the fear that the situation would aggravate further in the near future due to the escalating rate of inflation and the macroeconomic situation.
According to the National Micronutrient Survey (NMS) 2019-2020 report released recently, nearly two-thirds of the population suffered from mild to severe insecurity in terms of access to food.
The survey was conducted between the period from February 2020 and July 2021 among 2,047 households in 64 districts of the country. Initially, data collection was scheduled to start from March 2020, but deferred finally.
The survey report revealed that food-secure households were more than 34 per cent, which is much lower than that of nearly 52 per cent as reflected in the NMS 2011-12.
And, the insecure households were nearly 66 per cent as shown in the latest survey as compared to 48 per cent in the previous survey.
Of the insecure households, a higher proportion was reported in the rural households (67 per cent) than the urban households (63.0 per cent).
Nearly 10.72 per cent of households were mildly food insecure, while moderately and severely insecure ones were 42.86 per cent and 12.11 per cent respectively, according to the latest NMS.
It also found that 28.4 per cent of households in rural areas reported moderate food insecurity. Contrary to that, 8.0 per cent of households in urban areas mentioned to have severe food insecurity than the rural areas.
According to the NMS 2011-12, the share of food-secure households was lower in the slums (36.3 per cent) than in rural (52.4 per cent) and urban (53.5 per cent) clusters.
Just over 12 per cent of households experienced severe food insecurity at the national level as well as in the rural and urban clusters. This percentage was slightly higher in the slum cluster (17.2 per cent), it added.
The latest NMS report, however, found that food insecurity status did not vary between the urban and rural areas. Food insecurity, salt intake and food hygiene in the household-related data were also collected during the study.
Meanwhile, the country's food inflation has seen ballooning. It stood at 9.08 per cent in September after hitting 9.94 per cent in August, the highest since 2013, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).
Stakeholders and experts expressed the fear that the food inaccessibility could force many people in a vulnerable state. Describing that the deteriorating food insecurity was substantiating the likelihood of starvation for the lower-income groups, they noted.
They observed that the rising inflation and costly food items have already put the lives of ordinary people and poor segments of the society even harder.
A good number of people are facing malnourishment and other life-threatening diseases owing to a lack of access to healthy and sound food, they added.
The country's poverty rate increased to 29.4 per cent from 20 per cent during the Covid-19, according to a 'telephonic survey' findings of the BBS.
However, few local think tanks consider that the poverty rate might have increased to 40-42 per cent due to the Covid-19 pandemic and inflation.
Talking to the FE, Dr Mustafizur Rahman, distinguished fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), said the country has been able to post a consistent rate of economic growth, but the reflection is not broadly visible in the socio-economic situation.
The fixed-income group and socio-economically marginalised communities must have access to essential food items as their consumption has seen negative effects during the pandemic and the present economic situation of the country, he explained.
The Covid-19 impact and growing income inequality may cause rising food insecurity in the near future, he noted.
Dr Rahman expressed the fear that the food insecurity might deteriorate in the coming days due to rising inflation and macroeconomic situation in the country.
The mid-day school feeding for children can be an impactful initiative, he said and suggested strengthening food distribution and social safety net programmes, educating people and building more awareness over balanced diet.
Dr. Md. Abdul Alim, Deputy Programme Manager at the National Nutrition Services, said the Covid-19 impact has caused the significant rise in food insecurity in the country.
sajibur@gmail.com