Who will feed the unfed?

That a large section of the population is struggling to afford daily meals has been once again brought out by the latest survey of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS). According to its findings, 3.77 crore people in Bangladesh suffered some degree of food insecurity throughout 2023, meaning that one in every five households were food-insecure last year. Among them, 14.77 lakh—or 0.87 percent—experienced a severe form of it.

Surveying 29,760 households across the country in June 2023, the state-run statistical agency found that 4.30 percent of respondents had to skip at least one meal in the previous 12 months because they could not afford it, while 1.50 percent said they starved for an entire day. Three percent of respondents said they suffered hunger once or twice a month. The crisis is further evidenced by surveys conducted by the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) which, in August last year, reported that 24 percent of Bangladesh's population were struggling to meet their daily nutritional needs. Another survey in October-November 2023 revealed that 36 percent of the country's low-income households faced food shortages, despite seasonal changes in income opportunities.

Over the last few years, Bangladesh has been struggling with the effects of severe economic shocks: shrunken income opportunities, rise in unemployment, and a persistently high inflation rate that has created an unprecedented cost-of-living crisis. The relentless increases in prices of essential food items, which the government has consistently failed to bring under control despite repeated urgings, do not help either. Things seem to have turned worse with the country heading into the holy month of Ramadan, with the prices of iftar essentials and ingredients particularly witnessing a jump.

What are households with low or fixed income supposed to do, then? Not having their nutritional needs met means a large section of them are at high risk of malnutrition, which will affect their productivity, further restrict their income-generating capacity, and have long-term medical consequences. Clearly, existing measures are doing little to alleviate their struggle. Our policymakers need to come up with a strategy to ensure basic nutritional support to all poor and low-income families on an urgent basis. As an expert has rightly said, it is unacceptable that one-fifth of our population is food-insecure especially at a time when we are preparing to become a developing country.