By Ali hassan
Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis since its independence from the United Kingdom in 1948. As in the period of independence it was not expected that Sri-Lanka would go under such crises but bad governance and poor policies not only led Sri-Lanka to food crises but it has been enduring soaring inflation, power blackouts, and fuel rationing since last year severely. The main reasons which caused food insecurity in Sri Lanka and which has increased dramatically are reduced domestic agricultural production, scarcity of foreign exchange reserves and depreciation of the local currency which further caused food shortages and a spike in the cost of living, which is limiting people’s access to healthy and affordable meals. Moreover, Sri-Lanka came on the heels of successive waves of COVID-19 threatening to undo years of development progress, severely undermining the country’s ability to achieve the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
However, before the economic crisis and the pandemic, malnutrition rates across Sri Lanka were already high. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Sri Lankan women and children suffered from far higher rates of malnutrition than most other middle-income countries. According to an estimate 17 percent of children aged fewer than 5 in Sri-Lanka were too short because of stunting in addition 15 percent were too thin for their height. Hence sustainable development and constructive way of economic growth became impossible as most of the people of Sri-Lanka were not able to work mainly due to heath sickness and disabilities.
In June 2022 UN agencies had estimated that 1.7 million out of the 22 million populations in Sri Lanka are dependent and required help. Moreover, the number of people in Sri Lanka needing urgent humanitarian help has doubled to 3.4 million, which is an alarming situation and hence more than 6 million people nearly 30 percent of the population are currently food-insecure and require humanitarian assistance. Further in contemporary poverty rate in the South Asian nation has doubled to 25.6 percent this year, up from 13.1 percent last year. Viewing the current situation the United Nations has warned of a worsening food crisis in the south Asian island nation that declared itself bankrupt in July amid an unprecedented economic crisis.
UN agencies working in Sri Lanka in a joint statement declared that they had raised $79m to feed that in need, but the increasing number of poor people meant an additional $70m was needed. The UN said its revised plan aims at feeding 2.1 million people, including pregnant mothers and school children and providing livelihood support to 1.5 million farmers and fishermen.The country defaulted on its $51bn external debt in mid-April and is in talks with the IMF for a $2.9bn bailout. Moreover months of protests against high prices and shortages of food and medicines just led to the toppling of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in July. There was no plenary action which could possible taken in order to meet the response of the protestors due to economic crises.
The latest WFP assessment reveals that 86 percent of families are buying cheaper, less nutritious food, eating less and in some cases skipping meals altogether. In addition, weather extremes such as droughts, floods and landslides are heightening food and nutrition insecurity. Moreover, The World Food Programme (WFP) has been working with the Government of Sri Lanka since 1968 to address malnutrition, support families to access food and improve the productivity and incomes of smallholder farmers.WFP supports school-aged children in food insecure areas to access to food year-round, provides children aged under 5, adolescent girls and women of reproductive age with nutritious food and helps communities prepare for and respond to climate shocks. Gender empowerment is integrated into all of WFP’s activities, to promote equality and strengthen food and nutrition security for women and girls.
WFP is scaling up its operations to support 3.4 million people between June and December 2022 whose food security, nutrition and livelihoods are at risk.Since mid-2020, food prices worldwide have been consistently rising. The pandemic, and subsequently, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, have exacerbated food inflation and increased the cost of importing food. Similarly, increased crude oil prices as well as the disruption in fertilizer supplies have raised fertilizer prices. Sri Lanka’s dwindling foreign currency reserves in the aftermath of reduced tourist inflows due to the pandemic, further compounded by tax cuts has led to a precarious fiscal position. In this backdrop, importing food and fertilizer is a challenge for Sri Lanka.
As an emergency response, international organizations have begun humanitarian programs targeting the country’s vulnerable segments. The WFP has already been distributing food vouchers to pregnant women in underserved districts of Colombo. Further, FAO and WFP are closely monitoring the food security situation in Sri Lanka and have just concluded a Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission (CFSAM). Asian Development Bank, upon the request of the government of Sri Lanka is preparing an emergency assistance package in close coordination with the World Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, IMF, and the United Nations agencies.
ADB joins six other International Financial Institutions to address food security, which includes the African Development Bank (AfDB), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). ADB is also working to establish a food security support program to mobilize more resources to promote food security and resilience of food system.