Sinister scenario of food security in Bangladesh

PARVEZ BABUL 

More than two in ten households, 24 percent were food insecure on average in August, an increasing trend from May 2023. Food security situation worsened further due to recurrent natural disasters during the monsoon season. This year, the impact of El Niño was evident with recurrent flash floods, heat waves, and cyclones severely impacted household food security in Bangladesh.  Latest World Food Programme (WFP) report, titled, Bangladesh: Food Security Monitoring May – August 2023 findings was shared recently.

The study painted a worrisome picture about food security in Bangladesh. The WFP, a survey conducted in May-August this year, found that as many as 24 percent of people in the country were suffering from different levels of food insecurity. The situation is far worse for the poor people, with 46 percent of the ultra-poor living in food insecurity.  Earlier in July, five UN agencies, including the WFP, revealed that 52 million–around one third of total population–were struggling with different degrees of food insecurity, of whom 19 million were facing the most severe form of food crisis, according to the WFP survey.

The WFP Study reveals that more than four in ten low-income households are currently food insecure. 45 percent low-income households were food insecure, and female-headed households suffered more, 27 percent households reported severe impact of cyclones.

This shows that those government initiatives are hardly helping them. The government’s efforts to continue food prices  don’t seem to be working either, thanks to some vested groups who seem to be beyond all regulations and can easily manipulate prices.

During the survey period, 71 percent of families identified the high food prices as their primary concern, while 70 percent said they were cutting down on food intakes, borrowing money, selling off assets and buying food items on credit to make ends meet.

The situation is quite distressing.  And despite reassurances from the authorities, a significant part of our population is not getting square meals for a prolonged period, which means they are unable to meet their daily nutritional needs.

WOMEN ARE THE KEY TO FOOD SECURITY

Households with female heads and disabilities suffered the most during the monsoon season. The survey revealed that 47 percent were food insecure in low-income households, compared to nine percent in medium-income households and less than three percent in high-income households. High food prices, disaster impact, and loss of income remained to be the biggest shock. Concerns over high food prices remained increasing and some 71 percent of households said the 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. On average, the percentage of households adopting stress and emergency increased kept rising over the season. Households continued relying both on food-based and livelihood-based coping strategies, the WFP survey mentioned.

FOOD CONSUMPTION AND COPING STRATEGIES

Households with disabilities were also more food insecure.  During these tiring times of recurrent shocks, households with disabled people reported being most vulnerable. Only 20 percent of households reported receiving assistance in August.

Income instability made a big difference in both food-based and livelihood-based coping strategies. Loss of purchasing power due to high inflation and losses from natural disasters are incredibly costly for poor households. Close to six in ten poor households reported an expenditure increase during the monsoon season. Most households reported expenditure increases in most divisions, especially for food, health, and education. On average, 31 percent of households reported loss of employment.

DIVISION-WISE CAUSES OF FOOD INSECURITY

Pursuant to the WFP survey, August was the most affected month of the season by severe flash floods in the Chattogram and Sylhet divisions, heat waves in Rajshahi and throughout the country, cyclones, landslides among others. The food security indication shows a similar trend to last year, indicating that natural disasters threaten food security on top of price shocks and chronic poverty, especially in low income households.

Khulna Barishal Rangpur divisions reported higher food insecurity due to fewer agricultural jobs. Heat waves in the northern region damaged vegetables in the field; the farmers continued to have counted losses. On average, many households reported to live on credit. Purchasing food or other essential items on credit increased to 46 percent in August, from 32 percent of households in May. The low-income group had the highest food insecurity. In the Chattogram division, 58 percent and in the Sylhet division, 53 percent of low income households, the WFP report added.

While asked for comments, the secretary of the food ministry of the government of Bangladesh rejected the WFP survey, and said that the government had over 15 lakh tonnes of rice and 1.5 lakh tonnes of wheat in stock, and had several initiatives underway to provide basic food items at affordable prices to the disadvantaged people. If that is the case, why are so many still suffering from food insecurity?

OBSERVANCE OF WORLD FOOD DAY

Globally,  World Food Day was observed on October 16 with the initiatives of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UNFAO). The theme of this year 2023 was,  World Food Day: Water is life, water is food. Leave No One Behind.

FAO report says, We all need to stop taking water for granted and start managing it wisely. Governments, the private sector, academia, farmers, civil society and individuals need to work together towards a food and water secure world. Every one of us can make a difference. World Food Day 2023 shines a spotlight on water as the foundation for life and food. It raises awareness worldwide about the importance of managing water wisely as the availability of this precious resource is threatened by rapid population growth urbanization, economic development, and climate change.  The campaign also looks at solutions to produce more food and other essential agricultural commodities with less water, while ensuring water is distributed equally, our aquatic food systems are protected, and nobody is left behind.

Experts observed that to ensure food security, it is imperative to increase food supply. In the given context, the most viable option is to increase cropping intensity– number of crops in one year,  and land productivity–crop yield. Bangladesh needs high-yielding crop varieties, and climate-resilient agriculture that can perform under new climatic conditions. Employment creation, resource mobilization, gender equality are the prime needs.  Poor women, disadvantaged and the disabled people must get priority to ensure food security nutrition. Also to reach the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are crucial.

ADDRESSING THE LINKAGES BETWEEN GENDER AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Historically, women have been the key to food security. But they are not secure, especially poor women die many times before their death. They receive less, but have no rights to demand more. They say less, but are bound to listen more. They eat less, but must produce more to feed others. If we analyze the lives of poor women, we become amazed at how they survive.

Nazma (not her real name), a 32-year-old woman from Patuakhali (Southern coastal district in Bangladesh) whom I interviewed, lost her house and belongings in Cyclone Sidr, which hit in November 2007. Nazma was married at the age of 14 to a 30-year-old day laborer. Nazma had two children, but was abandoned by her husband five years ago due to her ultimate failure to pay extra dowry. He married another woman and now lives in the town of Patuakhali, pulling a rickshaw.

Nazma’s parents, brother, and sister died in the 1991 severe cyclone; thus, Nazma has no one from whom to seek any support (interview, December, 2007).

Cyclone Sidr took away 3000 lives, destroyed more than one million house- holds, and snatched the livelihoods of millions of people. Before standing up and bracing the loss, the people of the coastal belt faced another cyclone, Aila, in May, 2009. Aila pushed them further back with considerable loss of lives and property.

Nazma’s two malnourished children survived Side and Aila, but  she had nothing to feed them with. Nazma received some relief materials, enough to last her for a few days, but after that, she found no way to save the lives of her children and herself.

Nazma and her children, like many other victims, begged a launch supervisor to give her free tickets to Dhaka. She had to digest a lot of information from the launch authority. After arriving in Dhaka, Nazma and her children took shelter at Sadarghat launch terminal and passed two days without having any food, and only receiving water from a local restaurant. Nazma looked for housemaid’s job, but people refused to appoint her, as they did not know her. On the third night, two people came to Nazma and proposed to give her a good job.

Nazma agreed and went with one man – until she returned. Taking her to a room, the man forced her to have sex with him, paid her just Tk.20, and abandoned her. Nazma cried silently and went to reclaim her children, but she lost her way and could not find them. She cried loudly and searched for them everywhere, but she still could not find them. Nazma became very tired searching for the children, passing her time in the city without a job, and begging to survive. After ten days, she somehow returned home to her village in the hope that perhaps her children had returned there, but they had not.

In her village, she could not find work or food, but took shelter on a land- lord’s verandah for the night. Sidr and Aila had affected many people in her area, so thousands of poor women and children, like Nazma and her lost children, were looking for help. There was profound regret, and wailing among many people, but too little help.

Different researches show that Bangladesh experiences floods, drought, cyclones, and disasters more frequently now, due to climate change. Scientists forecast a further increase in natural and human-induced calamities in the future. This is why we need to explore the vulnerability of poor women and linkages between gender and climate change issues, particularly in relation to enhancing women’s capacities to address climate change to save millions of women like Nazma and her children.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), public health depends on safe drinking water, sufficient food, secure shelter, and good social conditions. Climate change is likely to affect all of these things. Public health services and high living standards protect some populations from specific impacts; however, the health effects of a rapidly changing climate are likely to be over- whelmingly negative, particularly in the poorest communities. Among these effects are the following:

Rising temperatures and variable precipitation are likely to decrease the production of staple foods. That is why in many of the poorest countries including Bangladesh increasing the risks of food insecurity, malnutrition, poor health, and environmental degradation that the worst impacts of man-made climate change behind the scene.

Rising sea levels increase the risk of coastal flooding, and may necessitate population displacement. More than half of the world’s population now lives within 60 km of the sea. One of the most vulnerable regions is the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta of Bangladesh.

One of the participants of the Third World Climate Conference (WCC-3), organized by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and held from August 31 to September 4, 2009 in Geneva, Switzerland, was our Prime Minister. The theme of the conference was Climate Prediction and Information for Decision-making. Topics covered by this climate conference included the application of climate prediction and information on societal problems to enable better adaptation to climate variability. We need better climate information for a better future.

The sorrows, tragedies, and sufferings of millions of women like Nazma need to be brought before world leaders to help save Bangladesh and its people from the long-term problems of climate change. The United Nations Secretary General said, “Climate change poses at least as big a threat to the world as war. For that reason, we have a duty to the vulnerable people who contribute least to the problem, but experience its impacts most severely. And we have a responsibility to succeeding generations. We also have a historical obligation to successfully transit to a low-carbon global economy.”

In developing countries, owing to poor women’s marginalized status and dependence on local natural resources, their domestic burdens are increased; they feel an even greater burden of climate change. They are also underrepresented in decision-making about climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, and, most critically, discussions and decisions about adaptation and mitigation.

So, let us empower our destitute and poor women like Nazma. Their contributions through growing crops, planting trees, and producing homestead food will help the country ensure food and nutritional security, and approach climate change efforts with more than just hope and a begging bowl. The landless, poor women like Nazma are in a desperate plight, having lost all their belongings. Thus, the duty of national and international leaders should be to save their lives, because they, as human beings, have equal rights to stay alive, as have others.

WOMEN AND SDGS

Concerns about women’s access to, control over, and ownership of land and resources have been raised over the years at different but interrelated levels. Land and environmental resources are central to the lives of people living in countries whose economic development and subsistence depends on the resources. With regard to environmental resources, women’s access to and control over forests, water, and wildlife has come into sharp focus, as it has become clear that the performance of women’s day-to-day chores is anchored in these resources.

Making access to land and environmental resources equitable is one way to achieve development. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) recognize the need to promote gender equality and empower women, the need to alleviate poverty and ensure sustainable environmental management.