South West Water Logging

Coordinated Needs Analysis South west Water Logging August 2016

Jessore District, Avaynagar, Keshabpur and Monirampur Upazilas

Data analysed by the Food Security Cluster

1 | P a g e Table of Contents

2 | P a g e The district is historically water-logged. Heavy and continuous rainfall for the last couple of weeks has paralysed the lives of the people of some areas of Jessore district. As reported some low lying areas of 8 upazilas were affected by water-logging due to heavy rainfall caused by the depression in the Bay of Bengal. Of them Abhaynagar, Keshabpur and Manirampur upazilas are badly affected. A total of 25 unions under those 3 upazilas are affected – 5 unions in Abhaynagar, 7 unions in Keshabpur and 13 unions in Manirampur. Over 2,50,000 people in 260 villages in Kopotakkho basin areas in Jessore district are marooned (said by district administration). 192 mm rainfall is recorded on 22 august in this area. Most of river water passing 3.58 metre above danger level (Water Development Board, Jessore District). Food Security and Livelihoods Key Findings and Concerns  Access to food is compromised by lack of daily wage opportunities  Negative coping strategies are being deployed: food intake decrease  Communities were already experiencing the seasonal lean period prior to waterlogging

 Reduced employment opportunities due to waterlogging and washing away of fish farms and inundation of agricultural land  Markets are functionning  Recommendations:

o Food assistance

o Diversified livelihood options

o Animal fodder is required Background of the Problem/ Disaster

Prior to the current waterlogging the people in the southwest were still feeling the impact of cyclone Aila in 2009 and waterlogging in 2011, with agriculture, shrimp farming and other livelihood opportunities continuing to be affected (Solidarites 2013).

Every year the period of September – October is considered a lean season in southern districts of Bangladesh, including Jesore covered in this report. During this period, households lower food consumption and engage in negative coping strategies to cope with the food insecurity. This places people living in these districts in a vulnerable position to cope with the further waterlogging shock. Negative coping strategies for the affected poor households that were reported in assessments from the 2011 and 2013 water logging in South West included:  Reducing the number of meals consumed from 3 meals to 1-2 meals (adults consumed only 1 meal and children and elderly ate 2 meals) and food consumed in each meal  Reducing the variety and quality of food consumed (it was reported that protein was not included in many household diets after the water-logging in 2011)  Vulnerable groups who are unable to leave their villages; including older people and child-headed households, are relying on government food aid. The food aid is described in reports as inadequate because it consists only of a few kg of rice.

3 | P a g e  Food access is hampered by people being marooned (in their homes/locations which may be on raised plinths or  high ground and surrounded by water Increased loans  The destruction of the fish farms and submergence of the agricultural land (see livelihoods section) means that there are few, and in some cases no, daily wage opportunities. This lack of income is also severely hampering access to food for the affected people (due to lack of purchasing power).  No IPC1 has been conducted in Jesore district as it has not been considered as a vulnerable district compare to Satkhira. 2 In “normal” times Satkhira is classified as IPC Phase 3 , “crisis”, which is described as; “At least one in five HHs in the area have the following or worse: food consumption gaps with high or above usual acute malnutrition; or are marginally able to meet minimum food needs only, accelerated depletion of livelihood assets that will lead to food consumption gaps”.

Experience from 2011 was that waterlogging has a significant impact on the main livelihoods in the region. With shrimp farms washed away and cultivatable land (especially T.Aman rice) submerged there are few daily wage opportunities (JNA September 2011 and 2013). Findings from the JNA recovery assessment in December 2011 provided the following information on the impact of the water logging:  Household incomes reduced by 50% for men and 56% for women  Negative coping strategies included reduced meals and increased loans. This did not prevent the undernutrition rate from increasing  Farmers missed planting seasons due to prolonged water-logging and a lack of seeds and tools  Prices in the market remained stable  Given the decrease in income and livelihood opportunities people did not have the resources to rebuild or repair their houses, highlighting the interconnection between livelihoods and shelter

The 2011 Recovery JNA reported a range of negative coping strategies that households engaged in to attempt to address their livelihood needs. These included:  advanced labour for immediate food and cash payment later,  Borrowing money / taking loan  Selling livestock and agricultural assets  Child labour  Migration for work of male labour

Reports from the field particularly note the serious needs of landless and marginal farm families and the extremely poor.

If the waterlogging situation continues into December and beyond, it will affect the cultivation of winter vegetables as well as Boro rice transplantation. Usually farmers will sow seeds for Boro rice by December and transplant in January and February. The waterlogging situation may slow down the planting of Rabi season crops (especially vegetables) largely because vegetables cannot tolerate water.

1 The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) is a globally recognized set of protocols to classify the severity and causes of food insecurity and provide actionable knowledge by consolidating wide-ranging evidence.

2 IPC - Acute Food Security Situation Overview; Created on August 25, 2013

4 | P a g e Emergency food assistance was found to be the main priority of community groups in the rapid JNA assessment in September 2011 and JNA light in 2013 conducted in the South West of Bangladesh. Once again, from the information received so far, food appears to be a priority need in 2016 (CWW, WFP, Samadhan, Utaran, 2016).

Current situation summary

1. Food stock Among the 31 unions surveyed, 30 reported substantial damage to stock of food. Only Jhapa union in Monirampur Upazila reported no damage to food stock. 15 out of 31 unions reported severe damage to food stock.

Extent of damage to food stock Scale of severity No. of unions % Low 4 12.90 Moderate 11 35.48 Severe 15 48.39 Do not know 1 3.23

2. Market functionality

This is worth highlighting that the number of non-functioning markets is zero. 29% are fully functioning and around 71% are partly functioning of which majority are expected to be fully functioning in coming days. 80% of the markets reported to have food stock.

The survey result on the market accessibility indicator contradicts with the result on market functionality. The market functionality data shows none of the markets are non-functioning whereas more than 50% markets are not accessible by the community people. However, it can be concluded that the markets which are not accessible can fall under the category of non-functioning and partially functioning markets even though the definitions of functionality status were not clear.

3. Effect on food security: All unions (100%) reported of having immediate impact on food security. Almost all unions reported of having long term impacts on food security except Nowapara union of Abhaynagar upazila.

4. Cooking facility: As high as 74% people are having problems in cooking food and boiling water.

5. Most affected livelihoods More than two third of the population of south west region are marginal farmers, fishermen, craftsman, petty businessman, landless and day laborers.

5 | P a g e The results show that the agriculture day labourer (96%) and small/marginal farmers (93%) are the worst affected groups followed by non-agri. day labourer (64%). This is worth mentioning that the ‘other’ livelihood group mainly includes the fisher folks.

6. Loss and damage to different sectors (Crop agriculture, agri inputs, livestock, fisheries):

Loss and damage Severe Moderate Low No loss Don’t know Damage to major crops 29 2 0 0 0 Damage to agri. inputs 11 7 5 7 1 Damage to livestock 8 7 13 3 0 Damage to fisheries 29 2 0 0 0

The loss and damage matrix above shows that crop agriculture and fisheries are the two most affected sectors in the water logged areas of Jesore district.

64700 hectare of Aman paddy has been washed away in these three Upazilas (Utaran). More than 15000 hectare of agricultural land in Tala, Satkhira Sadar, Asasuni and Kolaroa upazila have been inundated, over 1200 livestock are dead (CWW). Aman and Jute culture are the most affected crops (Utaran).

The flood water has inundated most of the lands creating a serious shortage of fodder and grazing lands for livestock and poultries. This year’s flood has severely damaged the whole aquaculture sector especially in Jessore and Satkhira District. In Keshabpur, Monirampur and Abhaynagar the accounted loss of fisheries is about 42 crore taka (Utaran). 11143 ha of Fish/Shrimp farm have been affected (IRB).

However, figures need to be confirmed by DAE, DoF and DLS Response so far

- Upazila administration at Monirampur distributed 44 metric ton rice - Red resent distributed some dry food 500 HHs in Monirampur - Gagoroni Chakra arranged dry food for 200 HHs in Avaonagar upazila - BRAC distributed some rice, dal and sanitary napkin

Information Gaps - Rapid Market assessment - Understanding of the baseline food security for Jessore, as Jessore was not included in IPC.

Recommendation - Dry food distribution - Diversified livelihood options in areas still inundated - Animal fodder

6 | P a g e Limitations - No discussion with affected communities took place

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