Urban poor in Dhaka spend half of income on food: Study

With skyrocketing food prices, poor quality produces in markets and inadequate basic services, the urban poor spend half of their incomes on food as they struggle to feed their families with meals that are safe, nutritious and affordable, according to a new study.  “They (poor in Dhaka city) spend a high proportion of their limited incomes on food – up to half,” reveals the study.

The findings of the research on food security and urban poverty in the north of Dhaka were presented at a seminar in the capital yesterday, a FAO press release said. The research was carried out by the Dhaka North Community Federation, with support from FAO. FAO’s Support for Modelling, Planning and Improving Dhaka’s Food Systems project, funded by the Kingdom of the Netherlands, will use the research to inform programme interventions by understanding just how difficult it is for the urban poor to access safe, affordable, and nutritious food.

The project’s Chief Technical Adviser, John Taylor, explained how the research will ensure that interventions are created in a way that empowers the poor to improve their diets.  “It is critically important that we listen to the voices of the poor so that we better understand what difficulties they have to access enough food – particularly enough nutritious and safe food,” he said.

Taylor said the urban poor are rarely given an opportunity to represent themselves, yet they are the ones who suffer most and have to address the problem of finding enough food every day of their lives.  “This research helps us understand their food survival strategies so that we can formulate interventions and policy to better support them,” he said.

The study found that the main cause of food insecurity for the urban poor was lack of sufficient and regular income. The poor predominantly have jobs that have low and irregular pay (garments industry, manual labourers, or street vendors). With such narrow margins, any financial losses (caused, for example, by an illness in the family, or a rise in the cost of food) can cause serious hardship for poor households with potentially devastating impacts on their ability to eat enough healthy food. 

The poor focus on filling their stomachs to avoid hunger, rather than eating nutritious foods. Pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and children, are particularly vulnerable to the negative longer-term health impacts of these practices. Other non-income related causes of food insecurity include inadequate basic services (such as sanitation and drinking water), substandard housing, and insecure tenure.

Urban poor in Dhaka spend half of income on food: Study

With skyrocketing food prices, poor quality produces in markets and inadequate basic services, the urban poor spend half of their incomes on food as they struggle to feed their families with meals that are safe, nutritious and affordable, according to a new study. They (poor in Dhaka city) spend a high proportion of their limited incomes on food up to half, reveals the study. The findings of the research on food security and urban poverty in the north of Dhaka were presented at a seminar in the capital yesterday, a FAO press release said. The research was carried out by the Dhaka North Community Federation, with support from FAO. FAOs Support for Modelling, Planning and Improving Dhakas Food Systems project, funded by the Kingdom of the Netherlands, will use the research to inform programme interventions by understanding just how difficult it is for the urban poor to access safe, affordable, and nutritious food. The projects Chief Technical Adviser, John Taylor, explained how the research will ensure that interventions are created in a way that empowers the poor to improve their diets. It is critically important that we listen to the voices of the poor so that we better understand what difficulties they have to access enough food particularly enough nutritious and safe food, he said. Taylor said the urban poor are rarely given an opportunity to represent themselves, yet they are the ones who suffer most and have to address the problem of finding enough food every day of their lives. This research helps us understand their food survival strategies so that we can formulate interventions and policy to better support them, he said. The study found that the main cause of food insecurity for the urban poor was lack of sufficient and regular income. The poor predominantly have jobs that have low and irregular pay (garments industry, manual labourers, or street vendors). With such narrow margins, any financial losses (caused, for example, by an illness in the family, or a rise in the cost of food) can cause serious hardship for poor households with potentially devastating impacts on their ability to eat enough healthy food. The poor focus on filling their stomachs to avoid hunger, rather than eating nutritious foods. Pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and children, are particularly vulnerable to the negative longer-term health impacts of these practices. Other non-income related causes of food insecurity include inadequate basic services (such as sanitation and drinking water), substandard housing, and insecure tenure.