An Analysis of Food Security in Bangladesh

Abstract

One of the fundamental rights of the citizens of Bangladesh is food security for all which is stipulated in the constitution of the country. The overall conditions of the economy of Bangladesh keep getting better and the economy begins to find some stability. However, food security is still an issue in the last several years for the Bangladeshi people. At the national level, food security means the sufficient stocks of food to meet domestic demand and at the individual level it means that all members of the society have access to the food. So, it is important to identify whether Bangladesh is secured in food at national and household level and factors that influence the food security in Bangladesh. This requires analyses of the present situation of food security in Bangladesh, factors that are instrumental in influencing the level of food security, effects of different factors on food security, relevant policy issues and the ways forward towards ensuring food security condition in the country. Therefore, this research is an attempt to comprehensively study the food security status in three northern districts of Bangladesh. The paper employed a multistage random sampling technique to obtain 180 households through a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, Food Security Index and Binary Logistic Regression model are employed to analyze the data. To estimate the model data has been collected from sample households from six upazilas of three districts - Rajshahi, Natore and Naogaon. The food security measures applied in this research are Head Count Method, Food Insecurity Gap and Squared Food Insecurity Gap to capture successively more detailed aspects of the food insecurity status of the households. Descriptive statistics is used to assess the socio-economic characteristics of the households and the Food Security Index is used to measure the household food security status. It is found that Bangladesh has made steady progress in the expansion of domestic food production. Net national food availability increased from about 27 million tons in 2004 to more than 32.0 million tons in 2013. However, the food expenditure has climbed up from Tk 2477 to Tk 6030 at national level, Tk 2299 to Tk 5542 in rural areas and Tk 3174 to Tk 7361 in urban areas during the period of 2000 to 2010 in Bangladesh. It is also found that average per capita per day intake of rice was 416.01 gm in 2010 in Bangladesh, which was 441.6 gm in rural areas and 344.20 gm in urban areas. The overall average daily per capita calorie intake by households is observed to be 2240.3 kcal in 2000 which increased to 2318.3 kcal in 2010. It is found that majority of households in the study area were food insecure as most of them subsist below the food security line which is 2280 kcal in this study. Using the recommended calorie approach, using the FAO benchmark of 2280 kcal per capita per day; households are profiled into food secured and food insecured, and it is found that 39% were food secured while 61% were food insecured. The shortfall or surplus index (P) indicated that, the food secured households exceeded the benchmark by 8% while the food insecured categories fell short by 9%. Eight main variables are used that can affect food security. These include: total monthly income, quantity of own cereal production, educational status of household, farm size, age of household head, household size, gender of household head and own livestock. Four factors are found to be statistically significant which are total monthly income, quantity of own cereal production, educational status of household and farm size. The analysis found that monthly income has a significant and positive effect on households’ food security status. Farm size has a significant impact on food security and has expected sign that is, positive. Educational attainment level of household’s head has also significant and positive impact on food security status of household. Quantity of cereal production has a significant and positive effect on household’s food security status. However, age of household head, household size, gender of household head and own livestock are not statistically significant. Finally, some suggestions are made to increase the food security status of household level and at the national level in Bangladesh.