As new research reveals a growing crisis of food insecurity in Sri Lanka, aggravated by the ongoing economic instability, with immediate food needs placing households under significant financial strain, the consequences could spell doom for the country’s gradual economic recovery.
According to a study by Food-first Information and Action Network (FIAN) Sri Lanka to assess the current household food insecurity and dietary patterns across 10 selected districts, 56.6% of households experience food insecurity with moderate or severe hunger.
In terms of the key findings, in the wake of Sri Lanka’s ongoing economic crisis, households have been grappling with diminishing incomes alongside surging inflation, with a significantly lower average monthly income Rs. 49,589, a decline from the Rs. 764,141 of 2019, and with over 80% earning below the national average.
Further, households are allocating an overwhelming portion of their income to food, reflecting the severity of food and nutrition insecurity in the country, with Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) findings attributing this to rising food costs.
Households have also been forced to make significant dietary changes, with around 75% of households altering their diets, often shifting to less nutritious or lower-cost options.
In the studied sample, households spent 42% of their budget on food, indicating that Sri Lankan households are on average food insecure and underscoring the burden of food inflation and the growing challenge of maintaining adequate nutrition in the face of skyrocketing costs.
A notable finding is the erosion of purchasing power among communities due to a lack of stable income. A significant majority of households (57.8%) report purchasing food items in small quantities, while only 8.9% buy in bulk.
Additionally, one-third of households (33.3%) use a combination of both small and bulk purchases, with those relying on daily or weekly wages finding it challenging to make bulk purchases.
Further, a considerable 32% of households are turning to relatives, friends, or external lenders to borrow money for food expenses, indicating a reliance on debt to meet basic needs.
Alarmingly, 27% of households have reported mortgaging their assets to finance food purchases.
Nutritional impact on population
Addressing food insecurity’s nutritional impact on the nation, Nutrition Society of Sri Lanka President and Wayamba University Department of Applied Nutrition Head/Professor Ananda Chandrasekara explained that the higher prices of food would have a greater impact on vulnerable groups while others could resort to affordable options.
“Food insecurity can have an impact but not immediately, since people will make purchasing decisions based on what they can afford. However, it can create nutritional deficiency among the population, especially in terms of micronutrients and proteins,” he said, pointing out that this could have more of an impact on groups such as low-income earners, children, and the elderly.
He described this as a “hidden hunger” since the effects would not manifest immediately, with consequences taking several months or years to become evident.
Accordingly, he noted that food insecurity could affect people’s productivity and their performance, as well as students’ learning abilities, with there being a higher risk of developing Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) as they grow older, all of which increased the burden on the country’s health system.
“It is therefore vital to ensure that people have reasonable access to essential foods, since otherwise it will have an impact on the population in general as well as long term consequences,” he cautioned.
An obstacle to economic growth
Against this backdrop, speaking to The Sunday Morning, University of Peradeniya (UOP) Senior Professor of Agricultural Economics Jeevika Weerahewa pointed out that while the situation had improved compared to the peak of the economic crisis, with prices being more stable, they had however settled at a slightly higher level than what they had been before the crisis.
“Therefore, we can see a direct connection between food prices and food consumption,” she said, nevertheless noting that the slow recovery of the economy was a positive sign.
She added: “Increasing food insecurity indicates that people either go hungry or they are not productive, leading to impacts on economic growth as well as on development if the conditions persist.”
Prof. Weerahewa noted that in addition to the equity aspect of food insecurity, it also had an impact on efficiency, such as on the economy. “There are direct economic consequences in addition to these humanitarian reasons,” she said.
She added: “In the long term, we can anticipate people being less educated, active, and productive so that they will not deliver on what is expected at the workplace. On the other hand, when people see that there is no future in the country, they will be inclined towards migration, which is happening even now. Food insecurity is part and parcel of people’s intent to leave the country.”
Despite the ostensibly improved economic indicators being reported, the lack of tangible impact on food security at the grassroots remains a significant problem.
“While statistics show that the economy is growing, economic growth does not guarantee fair distribution of resources. Economic growth should be accompanied by a set of policies to redistribute the benefits of economic growth among different groups of vulnerable people,” Prof. Weerahewa stressed.
Govt. interventions
Addressing these policy shortcomings, Deputy Minister of Trade, Commerce, and Food Security R.M. Jayawardena told The Sunday Morning that discussions were ongoing to formulate a programme to tackle the problem of food insecurity.
“Our policy is to eliminate food insecurity and enable the public to access clean and safe food. Alongside the proposal in our policy statement, we will be formulating a programme in this regard in future; it is currently at the discussion level,” he said, noting that the discussions included working within a legal frame for the sale and production of food in the market, as well as amending various acts related to the same.
He explained that the discussions were ongoing with the relevant officials and institutions on a programme to be followed.
Meanwhile, last year, the Cabinet approved a proposal by the President to establish a Food Policy and Security Committee under the Presidential Secretariat, which aims to provide every citizen with their minimum food requirements in sufficient quantity and quality at an affordable price.
Among others, the committee’s key objectives to ensure food security include developing and implementing effective programmes to enhance food security by ensuring efficient production, storage, distribution, wholesale, and retail marketing processes, with active participation from the private sector.
Nevertheless, with revelations that a significant portion of households experience moderate to severe food insecurity and many families rely on borrowing money to meet their food needs, the situation remains critical. The precarious state of food and nutrition security across Sri Lanka reflects the need for policy reforms and targeted interventions to ensure that vulnerable groups receive adequate support.