Bangladesh Food Price Volatility Report 2012
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
JOINT AGENCY RESEARCH REPORT 23 OCTOBER 2013 Customer: ‘Why you asking a higher price? The price has gone down on the global market.’ Stallholder: ‘Then go to the global market. Why have you come to the ’Kawran bazaar?’ Cartoon by Bipul Shah, printed in The Daily Prothom Alo (Bangla daily) BANGLADESH FOOD PRICE REPORT 2012 Life in a Time of Food Price Volatility, Year 1 results ‘Life in a Time of Food Price Volatility’ is a four-year collective research effort that attempts to explore the effects of change in food prices in the lives of the marginal poor. Since 2007, the food, fuel and financial crises throughout the world have caused enormous suffering to marginal people living in poverty who are unable to maintain decent living standards. While media reports provided enough evidence of such suffering, few systematic longitudinal studies have been conducted to help understand the intricacies of how people experience difficulties in maintaining their lifestyles and cope in different ways in an era of food-price volatility. The objectives of the research is to have a clear understanding of the ways in which food-price volatility affects poor people’s lives and how they cope with its effects. More importantly, the study tries to understand how different occupational groups are differently affected due to changes in contexts and opportunities at micro (household), meso (community) and macro (national) levels. www.ids.ac.uk www.oxfam.org Table of contents 1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 9 2. RESEARCH APPROACH: AGENDA, METHOD AND SITE SELECTION ..................... 12 2.1 RESEARCH QUESTIONS & APPROACH ....................................................................................... 12 2.2 SITE SELECTION & RATIONALE ................................................................................................... 13 2.2.1 Urban Slum ..................................................................................................................................... 13 2.2.2 Typical Rural area .......................................................................................................................... 14 2.2.3 Disaster Affected Area .................................................................................................................... 14 2.3 METHODOLOGY FOLLOWED ....................................................................................................... 14 3. THE POLICY FRAMEWORK OF BANGLADESH ............................................................. 17 4. CASE ANALYSIS ...................................................................................................................... 20 4.1 WELL-BEING TRENDS .................................................................................................................... 20 4.1.1 Defining Well-Being ........................................................................................................................ 20 4.1.2 A Need-based Analysis .................................................................................................................... 24 4.1.3 Occupational Pattern and Impact of Well-being ............................................................................. 25 4.2 COPING STRATEGY ......................................................................................................................... 33 4.2.1 Cost-containment ............................................................................................................................ 33 4.2.2 Income Diversification .................................................................................................................. 338 4.2.3 Migration ........................................................................................................................................ 40 4.2.4 Combining the Three- A Step-by-Step Coping Strategy .................................................................. 40 4.3 SUPPORT SYSTEM ........................................................................................................................... 41 4.3.1 40-days employment generation program ....................................................................................... 42 4.3.2 Vulnerable Group Development (VGD) .......................................................................................... 43 4.3.3 Other SSNPs .................................................................................................................................... 45 4.3.4 NGO Assistance .............................................................................................................................. 46 4.4 THE FUTURE OF FARMING ............................................................................................................ 47 5 CONCLUSION: THE FUTURE AND THE POLICY PRESCRIPTION ............................ 54 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................... 57 List of tables TABLE 1: FPV ACTIVITIES AND REPORTS .............................................................................................................. 15 TABLE 2: DEFINING WELL-BEING BY OCCUPATION TYPES AND GENDER OF RESPONDENTS .................................. 21 TABLE 3: BANU’S FOOD EXPENDITURE FOR A DAY ON 24/02/2011 ........................................................................ 35 TABLE 4: BANU’S FOOD EXPENDITURE FOR A DAY ON 19/07/2012 ........................................................................ 35 TABLE 5: HAD THE ABOVE FOOD EXPENDITURE BEEN MADE IN 2011 ..................................................................... 36 TABLE 6: THE ABOVE FOOD ITEMS IF BOUGHT IN 2012 .......................................................................................... 36 TABLE 7: NAZRUL’S FOOD EXPENDITURE AT THE POST-AILA STAGE ................................................................... 37 TABLE 8: NAZRUL’S FOOD EXPENDITURE AT THE PRE-AILA STAGE (PRICE LEVEL REMAINING THE SAME) ........... 38 TABLE 9: STAGES OF COPING IN AN ERA OF FOOD PRICE VOLATILITY .................................................................. 40 TABLE 10: CATEGORY-WISE DISTRIBUTION OF HOUSEHOLDS ................................................................................ 49 TABLE 11: DISTRIBUTION OF LAND HOLDINGS IN JAHANPUR VILLAGE .................................................................. 49 TABLE 12: FUTURE FARMERS PROJECTION ............................................................................................................ 51 2 List of figures FIGURE 3: MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEED, ADAPTED FROM-HTTP://WWW.PSYCHOLOGY-101.COM/2012/09/MASLOWS-HIERARCHY-OF- NEEDS.HTML....................................................................................................................................................................... 24 FIGURE 4: UNDERSTANDING THE OCCUPATIONAL PATTERNS OF PEOPLE LIVING IN POVERTY IN AN ERA OF FOOD PRICE VOLATILITY....................... 32 FIGURE 5: DIMENSIONS OF COPING STRATEGIES ................................................................................................................................. 33 FIGURE 6: FAZAR BANU FROM KALLAYANPUR SLUM, DHAKA ................................................................................................ 35 FIGURE 12: RESEARCHER COLLECTING CURRENT FOOD PRICES FROM MARKET, KOYRA, KHULNA .......................................... 37 FIGURE 11: CHOTO BAZAAR (A SMALL MARKET IN DHAKA).................................................................................................... 37 FIGURE 9: KAWRAN BAZAAR (A LARGE WHOLESALE MARKET IN DHAKA), ............................................................................. 37 FIGURE 10: BORO BAZAAR (A LARGE MARKET IN DHAKA) ...................................................................................................... 37 FIGURE 13: ANWAR GAZI, OLD-AGE ALLOWANCE BENEFICIARY ............................................................................................. 45 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ‘Life in a Time of Food Price Volatility’ is a four-year collective research effort that attempts to explore the effects of change in food prices in the lives of the marginal poor. Since 2007, the food, fuel and financial crises throughout the world have caused enormous suffering to marginal people living in poverty who are unable to maintain decent living standards. While media reports provided enough evidence of such suffering, few systematic longitudinal studies have been conducted to help understand the intricacies of how people experience difficulties in maintaining their lifestyles and cope in different ways in an era of food-price volatility. The objectives of the research is to have a clear understanding of the ways in which food-price volatility affects poor people’s lives and how they cope with its effects. More importantly, the study tries to understand how different occupational groups are differently affected due to changes in contexts and opportunities at micro (household), meso (community) and macro (national) levels. In line with the research objectives, we have concentrated on four key issues: a. well-being trends, i.e. people’s perception about what living well means in their context, and how far or close they are to their desired state of well-being, and why; b. coping strategies,