Food security will ease poverty and spruce GDP in NE: WFP

The WFP, which supports the Government of Sri Lanka on the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals of the country, stated that alleviating poverty and general food security has improved in the Northern and Eastern Provinces between 2011 and 2012 from an estimated 65 to 40 per cent of the households being food insecure, which in turn can spruce up the economic growth of the north east.

The improvement in food security is attributed to the reduction in poverty levels measured through expenditure as a proxy for income. The WFP communiqué also reported that the increased number of days of consumption of protein rich foods, a change in the livelihood strategies and in the general increased agricultural production in 2012 are the positive impact to the country in 2012. However a point to note is that despite this improvement, an estimated 1.1 million people require food assistance under different modalities.

Going into the details, it is revealed that the households most affected by food insecurity are spread across all the eight districts assessed, but have a higher proportion of food insecure populations in Jaffna, Mullaitivu and Trincomalee Districts, which must be addressed.

The reasons for such high food insecurity are associated with a number of factors, namely;

a) high level of indebtedness with 63 to 75 per cent of the households having taken credit in 2012, of which 20 to 40 per cent of the households use the debt to buy food;

b) constraints to livelihoods establishment such as some households still clearing land, households are still building up their productive and liquid assets;

c) some households depending on unreliable income sources such as gifts and donations and casual wage labour (28 per cent of households), accompanied by under employment;

d) some (15 per cent) households still being hosted by other families after returning; and

e) structural factors such as household limited access to land. Other household constraints contributing to food insecurity include loss of employment, high food prices, sickness, lack of veterinary services and fishing gear inhibiting the affected households to fully realise their income potential.

Due to these constraints, the affected households use coping mechanisms such as borrowing money, eating less preferred foods, pawning, selling jewellery to buy food. Furthermore, household use 12 per cent of income on debt repayment, with less than five percent of the household income spent on livelihood inputs, delaying the establishment of livelihoods which tends to have an impact on the purchasing patterns on demand that in turn can have an impact on the organisations operating in these geographic regions.

What is required now is the structured development of the economy with programmes such as Devi Neguma that can have a positive rub off on the economy.  

Given the existing food insecurity, it is recommended, that:

(i) under-five children, pregnant and lactating women receive nutritious food to address the malnutrition rates;

(ii) the social vulnerable groups are provided with unconditional cash, vouchers or food transfers as appropriate, but this group should eventually be absorbed under the Government safety net programme;

(iii) recovery assistance in the form of work for assets, cash for work, cash for training should be provided to able bodied that are food insecure, but the cash rates paid should not out compete the local wage rates;

(iv) services provision such as veterinary services and fishing gear should be provided, with the later being turned to the private sector in the long term; and

(v) structural factors affecting food security and causing general vulnerability such as wild and stray animals, limited access to land both grazing and for crop production, unemployment and underemployment, lack of reliable income sources, and indebtedness should be addressed.

However the positive news is that the overall GDP growth experienced in the recent past indicates that there is a very strong positive trend on the structural development of the economy post 2009, but with a more focused attention the impact can be great to a household in the north east.