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The country has been preoccupied with social unrest, political controversy and shortages of essential items.

Although there has been some improvement in the availability of essential items, food prices are soaring and an increasing number of poor households are without adequate food, and an increasing number of children are vulnerable to malnutrition, hunger and starvation.

The minimising of hunger, malnutrition and starvation is a challenging task in the current economic conditions in the country.

Inadequate

Foreign assistance and community initiatives have played a significant role in alleviating people’s hunger. Yet, the outreach of these efforts is inadequate to resolve the nation’s growing problem of hunger and starvation.

Malnutrition

The country’s malnutrition rate is exceeding 20 percent and child malnutrition is worsening in the current economic crisis, where the accessibility to food is becoming increasingly difficult for low-income households.

Poor

Around 12 percent of the population is estimated to be poor. An increasing number of households are falling into poverty and are unable to access their basic food needs.

According to recent data, in mid-2021 around 127,000 of 570,000 children below five years were malnourished. Child malnutrition, as well as adult malnutrition, would have increased this year when economic conditions deteriorated further when the country’s poverty level increased to 12 percent.

Food assistance

The number of people needing food assistance is increasing with food prices soaring and income earning opportunities declining. The crux of the problem is that real income of the poor has diminished, while food prices have escalated.

Affluent

In contrast, the affluent are hardly affected by food shortages, even though they are facing difficulties in obtaining petrol, medicines and some foods. Hotels and restaurants are well patronised.

Food situation

The emerging food situation in the country is one of avoiding hunger and starvation among a large segment of poor households that cannot access adequate food in the coming months owing to inadequate income and soaring prices.

Bengali famine

The Sri Lankan food situation makes one recall the story related by AmartyaSen, the Nobel Prize winner in Economics, about the Bengali famine in the 1940’s.

Sen was living in Calcutta when the Bengali famine of the 1940s resulted in the deaths of around four to five million people. While this large number of people died of hunger and starvation, Sen recalled that he himself did not know anyone who did not have adequate food.

Reason for hunger

This experience led him to the theory that the reason for hunger and starvation was not necessarily the shortage of food, but the inability of people to access the available food owing to their lack of ‘entitlements.’ By entitlements he meant income or purchasing power.

Inadequate income

The income of a large segment of the population in Bengal was inadequate to purchase their requirements of essential food. In contrast, Sen was living in and associating with, the other segment of society that had the purchasing power to access their needs.

Sri Lanka

This is the situation in Sri Lanka as well. Despite the sky rocketing prices of food and other essentials, the affluent are able to access enough food. In fact, the food consumption of the affluent in Sri Lanka may in many instances be higher than that of some high-income countries. Hotels and restaurants in Colombo are thriving with guests, even though some are restricted in such conspicuous consumption by petrol shortages.

Current crisis

No doubt there has been a shortfall in food production in the country this year owing to the lack of fertiliser. This has no doubt affected even rural households’ access to food.  There has also been incapacity to import essential food. Consequently, food availability has been reduced.

The shortfall in domestic food production and the country’s incapacity to import food has reduced the available food supply.

Imports

On the other hand, there have been imports of rice from Myanmar, China and India. Furthermore stocks of rice have been released by millers and merchants.  Consequently, riceis available but at high prices. Bread and vegetable prices have however risen sharply.

These factors have resulted in the sky rocketing of food prices that have made it impossible for poor households to access adequate food.

Poor households

It is in this context of high prices that lower income households have to access their basic food needs. Many households would be left behind in this search for food.

Estimates of hunger

The United Nations recently estimated that 1.7 million people in the country were most vulnerable and most affected by the crisis. This number of hungry people is likely to increase as the crisis deepens.

These are people who have lost their employment or cannot ply their trade for lack of raw materials, fuel or no demand for their services. The poorest of the poor, the incapacitated and the elderly are hungry and starved due to the tripling and quadrupling of food prices. Their meagre entitlements have been severely eroded.

Warning

The UN has warned that Sri Lanka’s unprecedented economic crisis could develop into a dire humanitarian crisis, with millions already in need of aid. The UN was concerned that the current crisis could develop into a full-blown humanitarian emergency.

Foreign assistance

The magnitude of the impending crisis is such that foreign assistance is vital to meet the essential food needs of the poorest segment of the population.  In the current situation much of the assistance must be in kind due to the unavailability of food in the country.

Social initiatives

There have been many commendable social initiatives to feed the hungry. Soup kitchens to feed the starving have been organised by social groups and religious organisations. Such groups have also distributed food parcels. Generous contributions from foreigners and Sri Lankans living abroad have facilitated these efforts.

Ways and means

The prospect of hunger and starvation is mostly among the unemployed and poor urban households. While poor rural households would be threatened with malnutrition, hunger and starvation, there are ways and means by which rural households could obtain bare necessities. The availability of tree crops like jak, breadfruit, coconut and fruits could save rural households from starvation.

In conclusion

The current shortages of food in the country may worsen unless substantial food assistance is forthcoming from friendly countries and international organisations. While the availability of food at the national level is a necessary condition for household food security, it is not a sufficient condition as a large segment of the population does not have the means or capacity to access food at the high prices. This is the plight of the country.

The foreign food assistance should be channelled to poor household through a multiplicity of government and non-government initiatives.

Hunger, malnutrition and starvation have to be averted by international assistance, increasing food production and programmes to provide food to the needy. Hopefully these would alleviate the food situation in the country at this time of a grave economic and food crisis.