High Levels of Acute Food Insecurity in Bangladesh 2023 | 11.9m people in Bangladesh faced acute food insecurity in 2023: FSIN report

As many as 11.9 million people, or 31 percent of the population analyzed by a recent global report, were projected to have faced “high levels of acute food insecurity” in Bangladesh in 2023.

This includes over 6,00,000 Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, or 65 percent of the refugee camp population, according to the latest global report on food crises by the Food Security Information Network (FSIN).

Extreme weather events, economic shocks, global wars, and high levels of domestic food inflation have particularly affected the acute food insecurity of these people.

The FSIN released its report yesterday. Sixteen international organizations, including the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Food Programme, are members of the network. It is funded by the European Union.

The report also mentioned that food insecurity worsened around the world in 2023, with some 282 million people suffering from acute hunger due to conflicts, particularly in Gaza and Sudan.

“Extreme weather events and economic shocks also added to the number of those facing acute food insecurity, which grew by 24 million people compared with 2022.”

“Cox’s Bazar district has been included in the GRFC as a major food crisis since 2017, due to the arrival of around 7,50,000 refugees from Rakhine State in Myanmar.”

“In 2023, an Integrated Food Security Phase Classification analysis expanded coverage to approximately 30 percent of the country and 23 percent of its population, focusing on areas prone to climatic disasters — monsoon floods, cyclones, tidal surges, landslides and riverbank erosion — as well as forcibly displaced Rohingya refugees and host communities in Cox’s Bazar. Bangladesh is highly vulnerable to disasters, and there is no prospect of dignified return of Rohingya refugees in the foreseeable future,” the report said.

“Despite record cereal harvests in 2022 and 2023 improving food availability, food prices remained high with food inflation reaching 7.8 percent in January 2023 and 12.6 percent by the end of October.

“This marked the highest food inflation for over a decade, stemming from the country’s reliance on the Russian Federation and Ukraine for imports of fuel, essential food commodities like wheat, and fertilizer and livestock feed. The war in Ukraine disrupted supplies of these commodities, which, coupled with steep currency depreciation and decreased foreign reserves, drove up the cost of producing domestic cereals at a time of lower cereal imports,” the report said.

“Almost 1 million Rohingya refugees face extreme restrictions on movement and are not legally permitted to work, leaving them dependent on humanitarian assistance. Yet in the first half of 2023, funding shortfalls forced WFP to cut rations from USD 12 in March 2023 to USD 8 in June,” the report added.

Meanwhile, atypical monsoon floods in 2022 impacted over 7 million people and displaced over 2 million mainly in the northeast region, the report said, adding that they caused widespread asset loss and damage and weakened households’ ability to cope with shocks in 2023. Heavy monsoon rains in August brought severe flash floods and landslides in Chattogram (including Cox’s Bazar) and Sylhet divisions, which affected 1.3 million people. Of these, 0.6 million were in critical need of basic necessities, such as food, clean water, medicine and electricity.

During the same month, Rajshahi experienced heatwaves and there were cyclones and landslides throughout the country.

On the other hand, “Rohingya refugees have no foreseeable prospect of return to Myanmar due to the country’s protracted conflict that escalated in both 2022 and 2023. Tensions between the Rohingya refugees and vulnerable host community members are widening due to the strain on labor market opportunities, incomes, land, and drinking water sources,” the report added.