1 | P a g e District Nutrition Profile 1. Matiari District Matiari district was created in May 2005 (having previously been a taluka of Hyderabad district), comprises three talukas (Matiari, Hala and Saeedabad) and has a total geographical area of 1,458 square kilometres1. It shares its border with the Districts of Shaheed Benazirabad, Sanghar, Tando Allahyar, Hyderabad and Jamshoro. The geographical position of the district is depicted below in Figure 1: Figure 1: Geographical Map of Matiari District 2. Overall Development Situation in Matiari District According to the Human Development Index (HDI) of 2013, Matiari is an underdeveloped district with a value of 0.46, which is lower than the gross HDI value of Sindh province (0.59). The index reflects a composite statistic used to rank life expectancy, education and per-capita Gross National Income in the area to judge the level of “human development” where Medium Human Development ranges from 0.555 to 0.699 and any score below 0.555 signifies Low Human Development. When compared with the neighbouring districts, Matiari appears to be in last place along with Tando Allahyar as reflected in Figure 2 belowi. Matiari and all neighbouring districts are underdeveloped according to the HDI. 1 USAID/IMMAP Pakistan Emergency Situation Analysis - District Matiari, August 2014 Page i 2 | P a g e District Nutrition Profile Matiari District Human Development Index Rankings in Comparison to its Neighbours 0.54 0.51 0.51 0.49 0.46 0.46 Matiari Shaheed Sanghar Tando Hyderabad Jamshoro Benazirabad Allahyar Figure 2: HDI Ranking of Matiari District and its Neighbours 3. Demographics According to a 2016 estimate, Matiari has an estimated population of 795,147 individuals (with an annual population growth rate of 2.28%). In 1998, the current area constituting Matiari had a population of 529,925. The 1998 census reported the Male-to-Female ratio to be 52:48 while the EU Programme for Improved Nutrition in Sindh (PINS) survey in the district gave a ratio of 49:51. Based on the EU profiling exercise for Matiari, the distribution of age groups by percentage of the district population is shown in Table 1. Table 1: Age of the Population in Matiari District Age Group Male (%) Female (%) Total 0-5 10.5% 9.2% 19.7% 6-14 11.2% 12.6% 23.8% 15-18 8.6% 9.5% 18.1% 19-49 14.6% 16.6% 31.2% 50-59 3.6% 2.4% 6.0% 60+ 0.6% 0.6% 1.2% Total 49.1% 50.9% 100.0% Matiari, like most districts in Sindh, can be characterised as rural since 85% of the population resides in rural areas as compared to the 15% that resides in urban areasii. According to both census data and the profiling survey, the average household size is 5.7 members. The Sindhi language is spoken by 92% of the total population followed by Urdu (3.6%). The remaining 4.4% speaks other languages (see Table 2 for key population and demographic figures for the district). 3 | P a g e District Nutrition Profile Table 2: Key Figures for Matiari District Population 1998 529,925 Estimated Population 2016 795,147 Males 413,476 (52%) Females 381,671 (48%) Urban 119,272 (15%) Rural 675,875 (85%) Sindhi (92.0%) Languages Spoken Urdu (3.6%) Others (4.4%) Population Annual Growth 2.28% Rate (1981-1998) Total Households (est. 2016) 139,499 Average Household Size 5.7 persons per household Population Density 545 persons per km2 Total Area 1,458 km2 4. Poverty Status According to the Multidimensional Poverty Report (MPR) of 2014/15, Matiari is among the few districts to have witnessed some improvements improvement over the years.2 In 2008/09, 70.7% of the district population was living below the poverty line whereas in 2014/15, the district registered a poverty rate of 62.1%.iii The poverty scorecard survey conducted by the Rural Support Programme Network (RSPN) under the Sindh Union Council and Community Economic Strengthening and Support (SUCCESS) project reports that Matiari has a poverty rate of 57.2%. This survey collected and analysed data against various indicatorsiv. 56.7% of the households in Matiari do not own any durable goods, 25.8% do not own any productive assets and 90.7% do not own any cultivable land. Across all districts profiled by SUCCESS, 56.2% of the households do not own any durable goods, 35.8% do not own any productive assets and 83.9% do not own any cultivable land3. Approximately 6.3% of the population consists of widows/widowers, 0.3% is divorced and 0.5% is separated4. 5. Economy and Agriculture According to the EU PINS Survey, in Matiari district 42% of the households had an income of PKR 10,000 or below, 30.4% had an income of PKR 10,001-15,000 and 27.6% had an income of PKR 2 The MPR includes the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) which is based on the Alkire-Foster methodology and has 3 dimensions: education, health and living standards. To tailor the measure to Pakistan’s context and public policy priorities, 15 indicators were used for this national measure instead of the 10 employed for the global measure. Of these 15 indicators, 3 are included under the dimension of education (years of schooling, child school attendance and educational quality), 4 under health (access to health facilities/clinics/Basic Health Units, immunisation, ante-natal care and assisted delivery) and 8 under living standards (water, sanitation, walls, overcrowding, electricity, cooking fuel, assets and a land/livestock indicator specifically for rural areas). All these elements are directly related to nutrition as better education, health and income leads to improved nutrition status within the district. 3 RSPN-Sindh Union Council and Community Economic Strengthening Support (SUCCESS) Programme Page 11 4 RSPN-Sindh Union Council and Community Economic Strengthening Support (SUCCESS) Programme Page 7 4 | P a g e District Nutrition Profile 15,001 or above as can be seen from the pie chart in Figure 3 below. The average monthly income across the surveyed households is PKR 13,651. 8.9% 18.7% PKR 10,000 or below 42.0% PKR 10,001 - 15,000 PKR 15,001 - 20,000 PKR 20,001 or above 30.4% Figure 3: Household Income In Matiari district 64.7% of the households had a monthly expenditure of PKR 10,000 or below, 13.7% had a monthly expenditure of PKR 10,001-15,000 and the remainder had an expenditure of PKR 15,001 or above as can be seen from the pie chart in Figure 4 below. On average, household expenditure is PKR 10,735 per household per month in Matiari. Food constitutes by far the most important item of household expenditure followed by health. Almost 28% of the households are making regular payments with regard to debt (the amount of debt being below PKR 10,000 in 57% of cases). 8.5% 13.1% PKR 10,000 or below PKR 10,001 - 15,000 PKR 15,001 - 20,000 13.7% PKR 20,001 or above 64.7% Figure 4: Household Expenditure In 82.3% of households in Matiari, there is only one earner while 12.4% of households have two earners. Of all the households in Matiari, 28.9% are earning below PKR 10,000 per month and 61.8% are earning between PKR 10,000 and 20,000 per month. Table 3 shows the percentage of all households in each income bracket by number of earners. 5 | P a g e District Nutrition Profile Table 3: % of Households in Each Income Bracket by Number of Earners, Matiari District Number of Earners Income (PKR) Total 1 2 3 4 5 or more < 10,000 23.2 3.5 1.0 0.6 0.6 28.9 10,000 – 20,000 51.0 8.3 1.3 0.6 0.6 61.8 20,001 – 30,000 5.6 0.3 - - - 5.9 30,001 – 40,000 1.6 0.3 - 0.3 0.3 2.5 40,001 – 50,000 0.6 - - - - 0.6 > 50,000 0.3 - - - - 0.3 % of all households 82.3 12.4 2.3 1.5 1.5 100.0 Data Source: CARDNO PINS Survey 2017 Paid skilled agricultural labour (19.6%), paid skilled non-agricultural labour (12.1%), small business/ self-employed (9.6%) and paid unskilled non-agricultural labour (8.8%) are the main sources of income as can be seen in the pie chart in Figure 5 below. 0.8% 3.0% 1.0% Smallholder farmer Medium/Large/scale farmer 7.8% 7.8% Livestock producer 5.8% Skilled agricultural worker Unskilled agricultural worker 8.3% 5.3% Skilled wage labour (Non agriculture) 0.5% Unskilled wage labour (Non agriculture) Fishing/Agricultural 9.6% 19.6% Small business (Self Employeed) Business (Employeer) 1.5% Forestry Worker 8.8% Government employee 8.1% Other salaried employee 12.1% Remittences from relatives Other Figure 5: Sources of Household Income The rainy season in Matiari lasts from June/July to September and the cropping calendar is divided into two seasons: the Rabi and the Kharif. Men and women have distinct productive activities and responsibilities in agriculture, with both men and women actively involved on the family farm although women are considered to play a more supportive role in agricultural work. Both men and women carry out paid local agricultural labour and in situations where a family migrates in search of work, both men and women will take on paid farm labour.