Although Bangladesh achieved food security and improved access to food, eight percent of the households where the urban poor live still go to sleep with empty stomachs, reveals a government survey.

The first-ever study of its kind also found people of around 12 percent of the poor urban households had no food in their house.

The Urban Socioeconomic Assessment Survey (USAS) 2019 was conducted by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics from December 8 to 26 last year.

There was not enough food at over 21 percent of the households surveyed and 20.64 percent of the respondents could not eat what they preferred, said the survey released in the last week of November.

The survey, covering 2,150 households in city corporation areas across the country, does not reflect the impact of the pandemic, and thereby raises more concerns over the country's food security because the coronavirus restrictions have definitely worsened the situation.

Many low-income people saw their income fall drastically while others became unemployed and with no stock of food during a 66-day countrywide shutdown that started on March 26. A Brac survey, conducted from March 31 to April 5, found that 14 percent of the country's low-income group do not have any food at home.

Food production in Bangladesh has kept its pace with its population growth. Currently, the country produces 3.51 crore tonnes of foodgrains -- rice and wheat in the 2019-20 fiscal year for its 16.76 crore people, according to food ministry data.

The net foodgrains required was 2.36 crore tonnes in the last fiscal year, showed the data.

The BBS conducted the survey to generate evidence and enhance knowledge on the food security situation and socioeconomic characteristics in areas where the urban poor live.

The survey was aimed at helping develop urban targeting criteria for social security programmes. Besides, it will be a baseline evidence of the pre-pandemic situation which can be compared to the post-Covid situation, according to BBS.

The survey showed that the situation was grimmer in Dhaka and Chattogram cities where 9.23 percent of the surveyed households went to bed hungry against 4.84 percent households in other cities.

The survey found that around three percent households did not eat the whole day and night. In Dhaka and Chattogram, it was 3.17 percent.

It found seven percent households consumed fewer meals and nearly 15 percent ate non-preferred foods and 14.48 percent had reduced meal sizes.

"The households tend to adopt negative coping mechanisms to adapt to challenging circumstances, which compromised food security and nutrition… [They] reduced the quality and quantity of food consumed," said the survey.

However, 92 percent of the households were found to be experiencing low levels of food insecurity.

The BBS survey also found that only six percent urban vulnerable households experienced moderate hunger.

Commenting on the survey, Planning Minister MA Mannan said the survey portrayed the pre-pandemic food security situation and things changed after Covid-19 hit the country.

"I apprehend that the situation took a turn for the worse when the pandemic raged through the country, because unemployment rate rose and people's income fell," he said.

"At the same time, I must say that we found in another recent survey this year that people started to take part in economic activities like they did before the pandemic," said Mannan, citing another BBS survey released in October.

The minister said the challenges can be overcome by further expansion of the social safety net and continued economic development which will create employment opportunities.

FOOD BUDGET AND CONSUMPTION

The survey showed that the urban households spend 51 percent of their total expenditure on food, followed by rent and health care costs which account for over 26 percent.

Poor households in Dhaka and Chattogram report per capita total monthly expenditure of Tk 4,042, which is the highest among the cities. And around 67 percent of the total surveyed households had no savings, it said.

It found that rice was consumed in the greatest quantity as a person in a household ate almost 275 grams of rice a day. After rice, they consumed vegetables with a person eating 91.27 grams a day.

It said half of the households consumed chicken once a week and daily consumption of chicken by a person was as low as 41 grams. Households in other cities had much less chicken.

Only 35 percent ate fruits.

Zahid Hussain, former lead economist at the World Bank, thinks the survey provides useful information on the standard of living and vulnerability of poor urban households in Dhaka and Chattogram.

"Although the average urban household was above the national upper poverty line in December 2019, it was only barely so," he told The Daily Star.

"Given the context, it is not difficult to understand why a shock such as the one caused by Covid-19 would affect urban households so hard."

Nearly 75 percent of the poor households are likely to have suffered an immediate income shock due to the lockdown as households dependent on wage employment, business and self-employment had no protection, he added.

"With no savings to draw from for a vast majority of the urban population... many had to cut expenditures on food and migrate back to their rural roots," he added.