The poor coming out of food price shock: study
The poor are gradually coming out of the shock from food price spirals but they remain concerned about the safety and nutritional quality of their diet, a recent study found. The Development Research Initiative, Oxfam and the Institute of Development Studies jointly conducted the study. The survey, which took place between 2009 and 2014 following the global food price crisis in 2007-08, was carried out on the poor living in Dhaka and its outskirts, Koira of Khulna, Dhamoirhat of Naogaon, Sylhet and Chittagong.
The study -- Life in a Time of Food Volatility -- gauged the effects of food price spirals on the lives of the poor in Bangladesh and three other countries.
It found that the poor suffered from food price volatility, which continued till 2012. Many of them had to work harder and eat less than what they did in times of low food prices.
There was tendency to sell out livestock animals, mobile handsets and sewing machines to cope with the food price spiral.
Many poor families also had to engage their children on a part-time basis to augment income or migrate to urban areas, mainly Dhaka.
“Although the microfinance and NGOs have failed to help, many shrines, mosques and temples played roles of kitchen for hungry people by distributing food in times of crisis,” said Ferdous Jahan, professor of Department of Public Administration of Dhaka University, citing the case of Shah Ali Shrine in Mirpur.
The shrine caretakers distributed cooked food to hundreds of people when the foodstuff price was high.
However, the situation begins to improve for a number of factors including spirals in wages, especially in the garment industry, and increased safety net operation by the government in the form of Vulnerable Group Development, Vulnerable Group Feeding and Open Market Sales.
The supply and management of fertilisers and seeds were also good, and the coverage of stipend and school tiffin has also increased, she said.
The study found that poor people's access to food has increased from 2013 and 2014, Jahan added.
Naomi Hossain, research fellow of the Institute of Development Studies of the UK, also presented findings of another study, Food Riots and Food Rights: The Moral and Political Economy of Accountability for Hunger. The study was carried out on four countries, including Bangladesh.
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