Facets of food security

In a recent research paper, Mahabub Hossain, Firdousi Naher, and Quazi Shahabuddin take on searching for the food security issue in Bangladesh. The authors delved deep into the dynamics of food security and examined its changes over time.

Verge of vulnerability

Tap here to add The Daily Star as a trusted source

Take the case of Bangladesh in particular. The country reached a milestone at the end of 1990s by producing food grains ahead of the requirement estimated at 454gm/person/day. Yet, allegedly, sufficiency has failed to subscribe to security. Again, the sustainability is a growing concern. For example, domestic food grain production is prone to floods and droughts and could drive towards production shortfalls. Growing population pressure has been a factor scaring security. Increased cereals production has not led to a parallel increase in other non-cereal crops. Nearly 40 per cent of the population lives below the food consumption-based poverty line, lacking sufficient resources to afford a diet of 2,122 kilocalories (kcal) per person per day, along with other basic necessities. And needless to mention, normal diet in Bangladesh is seriously imbalanced tilting heavily towards cereals for calories.

Costly comfort

The authors argue that the rapid increase in cereals production -- 3.15 per cent between 1971-2000 -- was partly through a reduction of area and production of pulses and oilseeds that are important sources of protein and micronutrients for the poor. Excepting vegetables and fruits that depicted some resonance in the reign of rice -- perhaps due to higher productivity and profitability -- other crops were fenced out of the frontiers of agricultural production. Fisheries seemingly fared well with a rapid growth (7 per cent) in the 1990s. Meat and milk recorded marginal rise despite increased demand. Occasional imports of rice and wheat, despite the claim of self-sufficiency, shows that self-sufficiency, sometimes, slips back. Thus, self-sufficiency in cereals came at a cost of producing other crops and secondly, such a comfort could turn out to be costly if proper steps are not taken in due time.

Consumption patterns

The total consumption of food continues to increase in rural areas but the total intake is still 11 per cent lower than the recommended doses. Over time, substantial decline in the consumption of wheat and pulses could be in evidence, but there is a respectable rise in the consumption of vegetables (including potatoes), fruits and fish.

While the richer section of the society are gradually reducing their dependence on cereals to diversify consumption, the poor are still spending most their incremental incomes on rice. This shows that the intake of unbalanced diet worsened over years for the poor.

It appears that both rich and poor in Bangladesh reduced consumption of pulses -- substantially by the former and dramatically by latter group. During 1991-2000, the poor also reduced consumption of fish. Thus, consumption of protein-rich food declined mainly due to a rise in prices and partly due to a lack in nutritional knowledge. For example, as a ratio to rice prices, pulses prices were three times during 1975-2000, fish prices about 9 times, and oils prices four times. Admittedly, demand for these products outweighed supply to cause a rise in prices.

Aggrieved girls

Chronic malnourishment is astoundingly high in Bangladesh with 20 per cent of boys and girls severely stunted and 12 percent severely underweight. The level of child malnutrition in rural areas is strikingly high compared to urban areas. Within rural areas, malnutrition is high in the districts of Sylhet, Comilla, Faridpur, Tangail, Jamalpur, Noakhali, and Chittagong. Theses regions account for half of the malnourished children in the country.

The proportion of nutrients consumed by men are higher -- often more than one and a half times -- than women, thus reflecting gender disparity in nutrient intake. Surprisingly, the intra-household distribution of nutrient intake over the last 15 years depicts a downward direction. This happened in the wake of a rise in income earning opportunities for women and the so-called women empowerment.

Silver lining

The authors seem to argue that food security situation in Bangladesh has improved over time, albeit, marginally. Despite the alarming figures cited previously, the authors provide some note of pacification. Child malnutrition has declined somewhat since the 1990s. Stunting and wasting figures have declined by 3.3 and 4.3 per cent per annum, respectively, between 1992 and 2000. "Since wasting results from acute food shortage in recent times, its faster decline vis-à-vis that of stunting is indicative of improving food security...Moderately malnourished women as measured by BMI index of less than 18.5 has gone down from 52 per cent in 1996-97 to 36 per cent in 2002." Likewise, the proportion of moderately malnourished children also declined to indicate to increased food security.

The authors note a substantial increase in real wages following a fall in rice prices. The poor mostly buying rice from the market benefited and this also shows that their access to food increased over time. And finally, seasonal changes in food grain prices also declined to show that vulnerability in market exchange dwindled over time.

Policy points

By and large, the upshot of the research findings is that Bangladesh has yet to achieve comprehensive food security that resolves the problem of inadequate food intake and chronic malnutrition among the poor. Solving this problem would require decisive action by the government, the private sector and individual households. "A more efficient PFDS can play a major role for food security of those receiving transfers. Appropriately targeted income transfers, credit programmes and insurance mechanisms in times of crisis may have very high payoffs in reducing poverty and improving food security. These interventions should be part of a broader social protection strategy of safety nets that is both cost-efficient and achieves maximum coverage."

Bangladesh needs to diversify in the face of available empirical evidences that the country commands -- a la Quazi Shahabuddin and Paul Dorosh -- comparative advantages in a wide range of crops. But public support should come in. According to a research done by Asaduzzaman of BIDS, the Aggregate Measurement of Support (AMS) to agriculture stands at 1-1.5 per cent of agricultural output although the limit to such support under the Agreement of Agriculture (AoA) of WTO is 10 per cent. Bangladesh also, allegedly, withdrew many supports from agriculture on the heels of an apparently hollow slogan of self-sufficiency.

Research should have two objectives. First, among cereal crops, what is urgently required is the development and the dissemination of production technology especially with respect to yield and quality improvements. Second, with rice crops reaching a respectable position, research should focus on non-rice crops especially high value agriculture. That would demand continued facilitation of the import of seeds and production technologies. But unfortunately, public investments in Bangladesh remained low compared to our neighboring countries, not to speak of East Asian countries.

And finally, "coordinated efforts at evolving programmes involving nutrition education, food fortification, improvements in water quality and public health are needed. Increases in food availability and household access to food alone will not be adequate to address the malnutrition problems of Bangladesh."

Abdul Bayes is a Professor of Economics at Jahangirnagar University.