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Income Poverty and Hunger in Asia: The Role of Information

Income Poverty and Hunger in Asia: The Role of Information. S. Chatterjee, B. Prakash and S. Tabor. Introduction. Poverty and hunger Income poverty associated with calorie intake; hunger associated with nutrition in addition to calories Asia’s overall record in reducing poverty is good

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Income Poverty and Hunger in Asia: The Role of Information

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  1. Income Poverty and Hunger in Asia: The Role of Information S. Chatterjee, B. Prakash and S. Tabor

  2. Introduction • Poverty and hunger • Income poverty associated with calorie intake; hunger associated with nutrition in addition to calories • Asia’s overall record in reducing poverty is good • Agricultural growth played major role

  3. Introduction (Cont’d) • The general picture hides crucial details • Poverty reduction and nutritional intake not uniform • Averages conceal • Food distribution • Gender, Caste, Ethnicity and Hunger • Hidden Hunger • Policy implications

  4. Poverty and Food Availability in Asia-Pacific • Major reduction in income poverty by $1 a day measure • Average food availability and macro-nutrient consumption have increased significantly in general

  5. Per Capita Food Availability Trend

  6. Calorie Consumption Trends

  7. Intra-regional Variations • Poverty reduction not uniform (Number of Poor Table) • Food availability and nutrient intake increases also not uniform • Several countries fared badly in food availability and nutrition • South Asia

  8. What Averages Conceal • Urban-rural divide • In income poverty estimates (Table 4) • Likely also in calorie and nutrient consumption • Near poor • Population between $1-$2 a day (Table 4) • Geographical pockets of food insecurity • Chronic or periodic deficits owing to climate • Aggravated by absence of communications • Data deficiencies

  9. The Distribution of Food • Aggregate food availability hides distribution issues and food availability of poor • Sudden scarcities can cause food prices to shoot up, making food unaffordable by poor • Need for reliable and timely information of food prices and stocks • Public distribution must target poor better

  10. Gender, Caste , Ethnicity and Hunger • Gender deprivations in Asia-Pacific • 2/3rd of Asia-Pacific’s income poor are female • Deprivations in education and health • Within-household distribution of food • Usually skewed against females • Caste and ethnic discriminations • Differences not reflected in national statistics

  11. Hidden Hunger • Hunger, the broad definition • Calorie as well as other essential nutrients for health, education and productivity • 1.5 billion people in Asia-Pacific suffer from nutrition deficiency (3/4th of nutritionally deficient in world) • Significant number of above poor (by income) also suffer hidden hunger

  12. Hidden Hunger (Cont’d) • Critical nutrition deficiencies • Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) • 60% pregnant women, 50% women in reproductive age, 40% pre-school children • Bangladesh study – 2% loss of GDP • Iodine deficiency • Main cause of preventable mental retardation • Annually over 13 million Asian births affected • Vitamin A deficiency • Impaired vision and weakened immunity • Affects 25% of child population in Asia

  13. Scatter Diagram: Poverty Incidence and Iron Deficiency Anemia in Children Under 5

  14. Hidden Hunger (Cont’d) • Slow progress in reducing hidden hunger • Income poverty and nutrition deficiency indicated e.g. by child anemia and underweight children often not correlated (Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand) • Stagnation in underweight children situation in South Asia and increase in Central Asia and South Pacific

  15. Policy Implications • Role of accurate information in curbing hunger • Information on price and distribution of food; not merely average per-capita availabilities (e.g. case of India) • Disaggregation of information to cover rural-urban; unreported areas; gender and other deprived groups • Hidden hunger issues go beyond food availabilities alone and need reporting • Literacy, diets and public awareness

  16. Policy Implications (Cont’d) • Food distribution • Better targeting of public food distribution • Food fortification • Regulations, incentives and education • New tool-kits • Interventions combining income increases with: better food supply, potable water,maternal education, access to maternal and child health care • Role of ministries other than agriculture • Public works, education, health

  17. Thank You schatterjee@adb.org

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