Food and Nutritional Security in Bangladesh: Going beyond Carbohydrate Counts

The progress towards achieving household nutritional food-security in Bangladesh has remained slow. So far the food security is cereal-based (mainly rice) and food basket has not yet diversified towards high nutritive/ quality food. This article has examined the expenditure inequalities in the dietary pattern and incidence of poverty in Bangladesh by using household income, expenditure and food consumption survey data. Results have shown wide-spread inequalities in income and expenditure distribution. Among food items, the inequalities have been found very low for cereals and high for livestock and horticulture commodities and various types of fish species in both rural and urban areas. The analysis of food poverty, its depth and severity has revealed a typical hidden poverty that could not be brought up by analyzing economic poverty. The food poverty has been found high for pulses, horticulture and livestock commodities among both economically rich and poor households. Fish, livestock, horticulture and pulses sectors should be accorded high priority to diversify the dietary pattern towards high quality food and improve the nutritional food-security of households in Bangladesh.