Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Addressing Diet Change and Nutritional Issues
Over the past two decades, the availability of cereals has increased, the real
price of rice has decreased, and the poor have been able to consume more rice
in Bangladesh. The real (that is, inflation-adjusted) price of rice has fallen by
45 percent over the past 17 years. Falling rice prices have helped the rural land-
less and the urban poor, who purchase the rice they consume. However, the
trends are quite the opposite in the case of fruits, vegetables, fish, and other high-
value products. The real price of one of the commonly consumed fish varieties
in the country (
Hilsha
) has more than doubled in the past 20 years, and prices
of commonly consumed vegetables have increased by more than 40 percent,
which may have resulted in the consumption basket to be tilted toward cereal
consumption.
These observations have two important implications for policy, one relat-
ing to agricultural policy in general and the other regarding the SSN programs
in the country. First, the trends in the supply of noncereals suggest that cereal-
centric policies have to change. If policies are not undertaken to increase the
supply of noncereal, nutrient-rich foods (such as pulses, fruits, vegetables, and
fish), prices of these foods will continue to increase in the face of income
and population growth. Besides, year-to-year price fluctuations are much larger
for noncereal crops than for cereals, indicating relatively high levels of market-
induced risks for production of noncereal crops.
Second, providing only cereals to the poor through SSN programs are not
likely to solve the problem of malnutrition, which continues to be high in the
country. Why does malnutrition persist despite increased food availability? One
of the theories argues that the answer may lie in the complex interaction be-
tween food intakes and illness, which affects food utilization by the body,
which, in turn, is influenced by the overall healthcare environment. This chain
of events is often called the “leaking bucket effect,” wherein improvements in
availability and access to the foods that are important for good nutritional sta-
tus may be offset by poor access to nonfood inputs, such as quality healthcare
facilities and services, education, sanitation, and clean water, or ineffective
mechanisms for delivering these services (Haddad et al. 1995).
Available data suggest that this connection is indeed the case in Ban-
gladesh. Supplementation (such as vitamin A capsules) and fortification (such
as iodized salt, and
atta
fortified with micronutrients and vitamins) are effec-
tive ways to reduce micronutrient malnutrition prevalence rates. Should gov-
ernment subsidize such supplementation programs? If so, should they be part
of SSN programs? The recurrent costs involved in these programs are very high,
and the government probably cannot afford to offer them free of cost in the long
run. However, if the problem is viewed as an information asymmetry, the gov-
ernment does have a legitimate role to play in the short run to create awareness
among the poor, or even the population at large.
