Food security will ease poverty, spur GDP in NE
Rohantha Athukorale
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The WFP which supports the Government of Sri Lanka on the achievement
of the Millennium Development Goals of the country, stated that
alleviating poverty general food security has improved in the Northern
and Eastern Provinces between 2011 and 2012 from an estimated 65 to 40
percent of the households being food insecure which in turn can spruce
up the economic growth of the NorthEast.
The improvement in food security is attributed to the reduction in
poverty levels measured through expenditure as a proxy for income.
The communiqué also reported that the increased number of days
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, said WFP. However, a point to
note is that despite this improvement, an estimated 1.1 million people
require food assistance under different modalities.
Going into details, it is revealed that the households most affected
by food insecurity are spread across all the eight districts assessed,
but has higher proportions 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
percent of the households having taken credit in 2012, of which 20 to 40
percent 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 percent of households), accompanied
by under employment; d) some (15 percent) 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 realize 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
percent 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 a impact on the purchasing patterns
on demand that in turn can have a impact to the organizations 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 eventuallygovernment 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 indicate 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. |