Food is a basic need of all living animals in the world. Without food, it is impossible to lead a life on this earth. Food acts as fuel for leading life as it energizes us to carry out our daily tasks. That's why accessibility and availability of food are much more important in ensuring the right amount of food.
A scarcity, or price hike, of daily commodities affects the accessibility and availability of food items for the masses. A proper supply of food items helps to ensure the right level of nutrition, which is indispensable to leading a healthy and disease-free life.
The recent price hike of daily essentials is taking a heavy toll on low and middle-income people in Bangladesh. Specifically, soaring prices of fuel are having a great impact on the price of food. As the price of fuel skyrocketed following global events, the price of all necessary commodities has also followed suit. Due to increments in the prices of daily essentials, the lower and middle-class have had to tighten their purse strings.
They are now unable to afford items for basic survival as the price continues to go up.
Each and every item in the market catches fire and, as a result, the people of our country get into trouble. They are constantly thinking about where costs can be reduced – which ultimately leads them to decide on reducing food consumption, despite the invisible toll it takes on their mental and physical health.
This is how malnutrition begins.
Due to the increase in fuel price, the production of various types of crops also reduce to significant levels. As we all know, most of the agricultural production of our country depends on irrigation which is carried by diesel-operated shallow machines. The poor farmers are unable to buy diesel as it is selling at a high price and, as a result, the crops -- especially the rice production process -- is hampered.
In recent days, Bangladesh has seen a trend in rising temperatures, which is a dangerous signal for agriculture and farmers. During this monsoon no heavy rainfall is being observed in the country, excluding floods in Sylhet and Sunamgonj regions. It indicates that the necessity for irrigation is in high demand even compared to before.
But the increasing price of fuel is hindering irrigation to a significant degree. Ultimately, agricultural production will decrease as well. In this way, there will be a deficiency in food security, and on the other hand prices of food will also go up.
Price hikes are sure to prove fatal for the people of the whole country. Deficiencies in food causes increasing levels of hunger among the lower and middle-class -- this will lead them to be malnourished. Especially vulnerable groups like children, adolescents, pregnant and lactating mothers, and geriatric people become the biggest victims to that end. According to recent data from UNICEF: “Every minute, the global hunger crisis pushes one child into life-threatening, severe malnutrition.”
Bangladesh is now moving in that direction as well.
So it’s high time the government and relevant stakeholders took stern action to reduce the price hike of fuel, that alone can help tremendously to reduce the cost of other daily essentials. This would be the smartest way to tackle the perils of malnutrition before it even happens.
Md Billal Hossen is a freelance contributor.