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As many as 57 per cent households in coastal areas of Bangladesh are facing food crisis because of the ongoing lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus, according to a study.
Besides, 63 per cent of the coastal poor households have borrowed loans at high-interest rates from local moneylenders due to lack of institutional credit facilities, it said.
The study, conducted by the Monitoring and Research Department of local NGO COAST Trust, also revealed that 46 per cent of households experienced increased violence against women.
The NGO surveyed in eight coastal districts to know the impact on the livelihoods of poor people from the coastal areas because of the COVID-19 lockdown.
Mr. Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, Executive Director, of the COAST Trust said, “We conducted the survey to understand the plight of the low-income people for lockdown.”
According to the COAST Trust’s Monitoring and Research Department, the survey collected data from 240 poor, women-headed, and low-income families under 12 branches of the organisation in six districts, including Chattogram, Noakhali, and Barisal.
Of them, 83 per cent of respondents live in villages and 17 per cent in cities, and 57.3 per cent of respondents are women-headed families.
According to the survey, 42 per cent of the families can continue their meals for 3 times a day, which is normal while 52 per cent of families are eating twice a day and 5.0 per cent of the families are taking one meal per day.
As many as 56 per cent of families used to eat regular protein i.e. fish, meat, or eggs 3-4 days a week which came down to 13 per cent because of lockdown while 87 per cent of households now consume such protein 1-2 days a week, the survey added.
Because of the lockdown, 34 per cent of households have lost their income completely, when the income has come down by one-fourth to 39 per cent, and half for 19 per cent families.
About 48 per cent of the households have broken down their savings in response to the crisis caused by the lockdown.
Fifty four per cent of respondents said that the lockdown has increased the incidence of violence against women in their families.