RURAL BANGLADESH - PreventionWeb

Socioeconomic Profile Findings
♦ Oil and fat products, spices, and green leafy vegetables are also consumed regularly by
virtually all households, although green vegetables are normally consumed no more than
as part of one meal a day.
♦ Unlike other households, half of invisible poor households consumed staples 14 or fewer
times in seven days, suggesting that they only ate two meals a day (which will be
confirmed below in analysing meal frequency).
♦ Almost four of every 10 invisible poor households (39 percent) do not consume fish and
almost half (47 percent) do not consume lentils, the two most common and essential
sources of protein in rural Bangladesh. Half of the invisible poor consume fish four or
fewer times in seven days. In contrast, 94 and 98 percent of non-vulnerable households
and 84 and 90 percent of on-the-edge households consume lentils and fish regularly. The
vast majority of non-vulnerable households eat fish every day, at least during the time of
the survey in late June-early July.
♦ Increased availability of fruits in the market does not translate into increased
consumption of fruits by the poor. More than 80 percent of the invisible poor and 72
percent of vulnerable households had consumed no fruits during the survey week even
though the survey was conducted during the peak fruit season of the country when a
wide variety of fruit is plentiful and the cost is low. Half of the vulnerable and invisible
poor households consumed fruits only twice during the course of the week. In contrast,
more than nine of every 10 non-vulnerable household had consumed fruits.
♦ Meat consumption is extremely unusual for the invisible poor (only six percent) and
vulnerable households (12 percent); more than three-quarters of non vulnerable
households consumed meat in the previous seven days.
♦ Although a large proportion of vulnerable and invisible poor households consume green
leafy vegetables (as noted above), consumption of all other types of vegetables was
limited to only 56 and 58 percent respectively and is consumed with only half the
frequency found in non-vulnerable households.
♦ Non-vulnerable households can readily afford milk and dairy products (81 percent) and
eggs (82 percent); in contrast few invisible poor and vulnerable households consumed
these food groups in the previous seven days – 11 and 17 percent of the invisible poor
consumed milk & dairy products and eggs respectively.
Dietary Diversity: An essential aspect of food security, dietary diversity is clearly
problematic for the poorest households in the WFP programming zones and should
constitute a targeting indicator for food security programming. Dietary diversity refers to
nutrient adequacy, defined here as a diet that meets the minimum requirements for energy
and all essential nutrients. The rationale for using dietary diversity as an indicator for dietary
quality stems primarily from a concern related to nutrient deficiency and the recognition of
the importance of increasing food and food group variety to ensure nutrient adequacy. Lack
of dietary diversity is clearly a particularly severe problem afflicting the poorest households
in Bangladesh, whose diets are predominantly based on starchy staples and rarely include
animal products and few fresh fruits and vegetables, as we noted above.
Table 51 presents dietary diversity results by household socioeconomic status, encapsulating
the food group analysis presented in table 51. All of the non-vulnerable households and
more than eight of every 10 on-the-edge household consume more than eight food group
items. In contrast only seven percent of the invisible poor consume more than eight items
and more than two-thirds of the invisible poor consume two to seven food group items.
More than two-thirds of vulnerable households consume fewer than nine items. The average
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