90% poor cut meat, fish, egg intakes: SANEM

Soaring inflation and increased living costs forced about 90 per cent of poor households to cut down on three key sources of protein – meat, fish and egg – in daily meals while they even sometimes had to skip a meal, says a survey.

The situation is pushing people towards food insecurity as the global and local economic crisis as well as geopolitical turmoil have hit supply chains and production hard, according to the survey conducted by the South

Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM), a non-profit research organisation, between March 9 and 18 this year.

The findings of the survey, which was conducted on 1,600 households across eight divisions in the country, were unveiled in a programme at Brac Centre Inn in the capital on Wednesday.

Survey findings

To cope with soaring inflation and the rise in living costs, 90.2 per cent of the respondents, including 94.4 per cent of the urban people and 86 per cent of the rural residents, changed their food habits, the survey found.

Besides, poorer people reduced their meat intake by 96.4 per cent, fish by 88.2 per cent, egg by 77.06 per cent, and edible oil by 81.43 per cent in the last six months.

As per the survey, 45.42 per cent of the respondents borrowed from microcredit sources; 36.53 per cent from friends, neighbours, family, and relatives; 22.63 per cent from cooperative societies, 13.90 per cent from banks, and 2.8 per cent from Mahajans in the last six months.

In the future, borrowing may increase by 84.94 per cent if high inflation continues, the survey found.

Besides, 24.25 per cent of the respondents said they would discontinue their children’s education if the situation goes on.

Meanwhile, 77.63 per cent of the respondents said the measures taken by the government to tackle inflation were insufficient.

“The poorer households had more food insecurity during the survey compared to six months ago,” said SANEM Executive Director Selim Raihan. He also said poorer households are switching to low-quality food due to the high prices of essential commodities.

According to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics data, the annual inflation rate (point to point) rose from 6.17 per cent in February 2022 to 8.78 per cent in the same month this year. In some months during this period, it went above 9 per cent.

There are concerns that the actual inflation rate might be higher for low-income households, Selim said.

According to the survey, the monthly average income of the families reduced by up to Tk 14,025 in the last six months while costs increased by 13.1 per cent to Tk 14,569. Costs increased by 13.9 per cent for the urban respondents.

Meanwhile, food prices increased by 17.2 per cent in the last six months. Due to the increase in the prices of essential commodities, 73.8 per cent of low-income families had to borrow to cope with inflation.

Among the total surveyed households, 55.9 per cent reduced non-food expenditure, 55.5 per cent saw the erosion of saving opportunities, 35.4 per cent relied on aid, 12.9 per cent sold properties, 10 per cent reduced child education costs, 10 per cent changed jobs, 6.9 per cent moved to cheaper rent houses, and 2.2 per cent subjected their daughters to early marriage.

According to the survey, poorer households cut down on important non-food expenditures. 92.4 per cent of the respondents reduced clothing expenditure, 60.9 per cent health expenditure, 57.6 per cent utilities expenditure, 45.1 per cent children’s education expenditure, 20.5 per cent house rent, and 20.5 per cent other expenses.

The survey said that in March this year, 72.94 per cent of the poor people were worried about having enough food, 78 per cent expressed concern over their inability to eat healthy and nutritious food, 77.81 per cent ate only a few kinds of food, 37.38 per cent had to skip meals, 71.19 per cent ate less than they should, 39.56 per cent ran out of food, 32.38 per cent were hungry but did not eat, and 18.19 per cent starved for a whole day.

In the survey, 60 per cent of the households said they did not benefit from the government’s social security programmes. Besides, 28.50 per cent of the households benefited from OMS/TCB programmes and 7 per cent received old-age allowances. 17.63 per cent of the rural households and 39.38 per cent of the urban people bought TCB/OMS commodities.

Selim said the reasons for soaring inflation in recent months include escalated prices of food, fuel, and other commodities in the global market; shortages of domestic production; supply-side disruptions as well as imperfections and anomalies in local markets; and the depreciation of taka.

As always, low-income groups have been the worst sufferers, he said.

“Local market mismanagement alongside global sources pushed up the country’s inflation rate. Besides, influential businesses are also responsible. The government did not take the necessary initiatives to tackle inflation in due time,” the economist added.

Recommendations

Describing inflation as the cruellest tax for the marginalised people, Selim said addressing the inflationary pressure and resultant food insecurity of the poorer households needs to be the top priority now.

“Adequate supply of food items in the market has to be ensured while domestic production of food needs to be increased substantially. Efforts should be there to find alternative import sources. The prices of food items need to be brought down to affordable levels,” he said.

He also said the government’s social security programmes for the underprivileged need to be expanded while food support schemes or the number of TCB cards have to be increased.

“Under-allocation of resources, errors in selecting target groups, lack of coordination among ministries, corruption and institutional weakness, and non-availability of assistance for many of those eligible for aid are major problems in the social protection sector,” Selim said.

He also said market monitoring needs to be strengthened to prevent the manipulation of commodity prices.

SANEM Research Director Sayema Haque Bidisha said the government should take proper initiatives considering the Sustainable Development Goals and the development of the next generation.