Rapid Market Assessment in Flood Affected Areas of North-Western Bangladesh
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Rapid Market Assessment in Flood Affected Areas of North-western Bangladesh August 2016 1. Overview As a result of heavy rainfall in the major river basins and upstream catchments of India as well as the northwest and north-eastern parts of Bangladesh; flooding has been reported in many locations across the country from around the 22 of July. Based on the Government situation reports and other updates shared by organizations working in the affected areas, the co-chair of the HCTT triggered a Rapid Needs Assessment on 03 August 2016. On the very same day – immediately after the HCTT meeting, the Needs Assessment Working Group (NAWG) had a brief discussion on the assessment modality. Apart from agreeing upon a desk based secondary data review approach for the rapid needs assessment, the NAWG also decided to conduct a rapid market assessment in the worst affected districts to assess the functionality of the markets in the flood affected areas in order to define the appropriate response modality. 2. Objectives The overall objective of this market assessment was to assess the functionality of the markets in the flood affected areas in order to define the response modality. The assessment specifically looked into the Overall impacts on the markets Price volatility Supply chain system and restocking Market capacity Accessibility of the flood affected population to the local markets. 3. Methodology 3.1 Assessment tools As the RMA had to cover a very limited range of market functionality indicators within a very short time; the TWG members opted for a brief checklist for data collection. The checklist is below: Impact: 1. Are markets in the affected area generally Fully Partly functioning? Not functioning Do not know Access: 1. Are markets generally accessible by the Yes No Do not know local community? 1 Inflation: 1. Are the prices of basic commodities (food, Yes No Do not know hygiene, etc.) are the same? 2. If the prices have inflated, can you give an 10% 25% 50% double triple estimate of the inflation? Stock and Supply to market 1. Do markets have stocks of food? Yes No Do not know 2. Are the traders supplied with basic items? Yes No Do not know The enumerators were guided to have a reconnaissance to check the physical access to the markets followed by a brief interview with the retailers, wholesalers and consumers using the checklist. Key features of the assessment involved field teams compiling information into one consolidated template (Data Entry Sheet) for all selected markets. The enumerators were oriented over phone on the questionnaires, data collection procedures and input to the data entry sheet on 05 August 2016. From 06 to 07 August the enumerators visited all selected markets and community people in the targeted unions. 3.2 Market Selection Since the Rapid Needs Assessment report classified Kurigram, Sirajganj, Gaibandha, Bogra, Jamalpur and Lalmonirhat as worst affected and subsequently suggested immediate relief operations; the market assessment team selected 27 markets in those 6 districts for rapid assessment. Districts Number of selected markets Lalmonirhat 6 Sirajganj 4 Kurigram 6 Gaibandha 4 Bogra 4 Jamalpur 3 TOTAL 27 While selecting the markets, the team members also considered issues like; size of the market, number of retail and wholesale traders, outreach in terms of both supply and demand and extent of damage to functionality. The map below shows the market functionality status as of 07 August. The summary table of the survey results can be found in annex 01. 2 4. Market Structure 3 Most of the selected markets are long established and well connected to the major supply nodes both at regional and national level. All sample markets have retail shops, wholesale shops and shops with both retail and wholesale business. No. of No. of shops No. of No. of Name of the years with both retail District Upazila Union wholesale retail markets market and wholesale shops shops exists business Char Agg Bohail Bogra Sariakandi Bohail 4 5 30 15 Koritola Bogra Sariakandi Kamalpur 30 10 20 0 Rouhadaha Bazar Bogra Sariakandi Kamalpur 22 5 70 0 Tekani Tekani Chukainagar Bogra 43 10 20 0 Sonatola Chukainagar Fulchuri Bazar Gaibandha Fulchuri Gojariya 40 5 30 7 Shaghata Bazar Gaibandha Shaghata Shaghata 110 10 200 20 Kanchibari Gaibandha Sundorgonj Santiram 100 2 80 0 Sreepur Gaibandha Sundorgonj Sreepur 100 5 50 12 Kauniarchar Jamalpur Dewanganj Dangdhara 50 6 150 9 Gothail Bazar Jamalpur Islampur Chinaduli 200 0 175 10 Molamganj Bazar Jamalpur Islampur Patharshi 40 1 20 7 Shilkuri Kurigram Borungamari Shilkuri 25 5 13 7 Koraiborisal Bazar Kurigram Chilmari Chilmari 8 2 20 5 Kurigram Jatrapur Kurigram Jatrapur 30 12 35 7 Sadar Kotohakata Kurigram Nageswari Kotha kata 40 10 30 10 Mondoler hat Kurigram Ulipur Buraburi 42 5 25 12 Thetrai Bazar Kurigram Ulipur Thetrai 20 3 18 5 Belkuchi Mukundagati Bazar Sirajganj 32 25 100 20 Belkuchi Pourashava Hat Ghorjan Sirajganj Chowhali Ghorjan 30 0 20 2 Natuapara Bazar Sirajganj Kazipur Natuapara 20 1 16 4 Pipulbaria Bazar Sirajganj Sadar Ratankandi 45 0 12 5 Lalmoni Moghalhat Bazar Lalmonirhat sadar Moghalhat 100 - 12 - Lalmonirhat Lalmoni Borobari Hat sadar Borobari 45 2 25 3 Mohishkhocha Lalmonirhat Bazar Aditmari Mohishkhocha 30 2 7 2 Choudhury Hat Lalmonirhat Kaligonj Votmari 20 - 7 - 4 Hatibandha Bazar Lalmonirhat Hatibandha Sindurna 60 5 25 4 Dohogram Bazar Lalmonirhat Patgram Dohogram 20 - 9 3 Source: Rapid Market Assessment in Flood Affected Areas on Northwest Bangladesh (RMA conducted in 2014) for Kurigram, Gaibandha, Bogra, Sirajganj and Jamalpur Districts. Primary data on market structure were collected only in Lalmonirhat district. 5. Impacts on markets Among the 27 markets surveyed on 06th and 07th August 14 (around 52%) were fully functioning and 13 were partly. Districts Number of markets Fully functioning Partly functioning Not functioning Lalmonirhat 6 - - Sirajganj 1 3 - Kurigram 2 4 - Gaibandha 3 1 - Bogra 2 2 - Jamalpur - 3 - TOTAL 14 13 - This is worth mentioning that none of the markets were non-functioning and the respondents (shopkeepers and community people) reported that the partly functioning markets will be fully functioning as soon as the flood water recedes in coming 2/3 days. 6. Price volatility During the market assessment survey (06-07 August) the prices of all food commodities were found in an increasing trend. Prices of some of the basic food items were reported up to 25% higher compared to normal price. Though the study team couldn’t collect price data for all food items due to shortage of time and manpower; but in general; the prices of seasonal vegetables and fish were found considerably high. In case of vegetables and fish the high price volatility was reported mainly because of damage to vegetable production and fish ponds. The respondents in Bogra and Sirajganj reported 25% increase in price where as 10% increase is reported in Kurigram, Gaibandha and Jamalpur. In addition, the prices of some of the staple items (rice, pulses), vegetables and fish in the markets of Bogra, 5 Gaibandha, Jamalpur, Kurigram and Sirajganj were not well integrated amongst each other. But no price volatility was observed in Lalmonirhat. Districts Number of markets Changes in price in % (‘+’ surveyed means increase ‘–‘ means decrease) Lalmonirhat 6 0% Sirajganj 4 +25% Kurigram 6 +10% Gaibandha 4 +10% Bogra 4 +25% Jamalpur 3 +10% The market-wise inflation data can be found in column 08 of annex 01. 7. Food Stock in Markets and supply chain Only three markets – two in Sirajganj (Hat Ghorjan and Natuapara Bazar) and one in Jamalpur (Kauniarchar Bazar) among the 27 reported not to have sufficient stock of food items. The supply sources for both the retailers and wholesalers in the selected markets remained the same before, during, and after the flood. The supply chain remained almost uninterrupted during the flood. Only 5 markets were reported to have supply disruptions for around 4-8 days between 20 and 31 July (Column 10 of annex 01). 8. Access to food and markets The study team talked to the community people living in the villages within 0.5-1 Km radius from the surveyed markets. All respondents reported that they depend on the nearby markets for major food items and usually can access the market on foot. During the survey period 24 out of 27 markets were fully accessible. Only three markets in Sirajganj district (Mukundagati Bazar in Belkuchi, Hat Ghorjan in Chowhali and Natuapara Bazar in Kazipur) were reported not to be fully accessible by the community people and this was because of the slowly receding flood water (Detail can be found in column 06 of annex 01). 6 9. Conclusion and Recommendation for unconditional transfer modality This assessment examined the market structure, price volatility, market conditions, and access to markets. The findings of the assessment indicate that most of the markets are long established, have good linkages with regional and national supply nodes and are capable of catering to the essential food needs of the people living in the catchment areas. Although all of the markets had some sort of inaccessibility during flooding they started becoming functional as soon as the flood water started receding. Map- 1 shows the current functionality status of the markets covered under this assessment. Based on the findings on the current status of these markets, the assessment team is of the opinion that those markets which were not covered are more or less similar to the sampled markets in terms of structure, capacity, connectivity and accessibility; hence it can be assumed that they are already fully functioning by this time or will be fully functioning in coming 2/3 days. Therefore, it can be concluded that cash based response would be the most appropriate transfer modality for the current phase of flood response.