Cox's Bazar: Rohingyas more food insecure now

Rohingyas in Cox's Bazar camps have far less food security now compared to when they first arrived in 2017, according to a survey.

The percentage of Rohingyas categorised as vulnerable has increased to 86 percent in 2023, from 57 percent in 2017.

The World Food Programme (WFP) published their findings in a report titled, "Refugee Influx Emergency Vulnerability Assessment Report", on Monday.

Food deprivation in Cox's Bazar has risen from 44 percent in 2019 to 70 percent in 2023. In Cox's Bazar camps, Rohingya households resorted to begging and putting children to work. They are also resorting to loaning money.

Around 50 percent had to borrow money for food in Cox's Bazar, indicating significant financial strain, said the report.

"Since 2017, this is the first time a significant number of Rohingya households could not afford an acceptable diet. The survey revealed that 10 percent of households were experiencing poor diet quality, with a total of 70 percent classified as poor or borderline," it said.

"In 2023, household access to food drastically decreased, a direct impact of ration cuts. Only 30 percent of Rohingya households reported acceptable food consumption, marking an 11 percentage point decline," it added.

In 2023, due to a global fund shortage WFP had to cut its food aid from $12 to $8 for the Rohingya crisis.

This was partially increased to $11 last month. In 2023, only $576 million (65.8%) was received against an overall appeal of $876 million to tackle the humanitarian needs of the community. This happened the same year when Bangladesh saw a double-digit food inflation.

While the annual fund targets remain unmet, Rohingyas are also not allowed to work to do business, further worsening their vulnerability.

Since the ration cut, households were unable to meet their needs for the month with the items received from WFP e-voucher outlets.

"For most families, pulses, oil, spices, and sugar ran short by the end of the month, and some faced shortages as early as halfway through the month, with staples also in short supply," said the report.

The households received rice, onion, garlic, oil, lentils, salt, sugar, spices, chili pepper, and turmeric from WFP. The quantity of food provided only met their family's needs for 18-20 days, found the report. As many as 93 percent of the Rohingyas reported that the rice rations they got were insufficient.

Rohingyas in Bhashan Char, who got $15 as food assistance, fared better than their counterparts in Cox's Bazar.

Women-headed households fared worse than male-headed ones, even though such households, as well as families headed by children, or households with disabled members, received extra assistance for fresh food.

Among Rohingyas in Cox's Bazar, 56 percent reported having some form of income, 10 percent less than in 2022. The average monthly income for a Rohingya family is Tk 4,940 in Cox's Bazar and Tk 5,940 in Bhashan Char.

They primarily work as unskilled day labour, agricultural day labour, and camp workers. "Livelihood opportunities are scarce and asset rebuilding is impractical," said the report.

Even with humanitarian aid, 65 percent of Rohingya households in Cox's Bazar could not meet their monthly expenditure in 2023, which was 27 percent higher than 2022.

If food assistance is removed entirely, 83 percent of the Rohingyas would not be able to meet their monthly expenditure needs. Even with aid, a quarter of the Rohingyas fail to afford the minimum food basket required for survival.

Protein consumption notably declined to 2.8 days per week for Rohingya households in Cox's Bazar, found the report. The consumption of milk or dairy products and fruit averaged less than one day per week.

Eight percent of the camp residents restricted consumption of food among adults so that children could eat at least one meal a day. The impacts of inflation were acutely felt by this community that saw their assistance shrink.

For a Rohingya in Cox's Bazar, 68 percent of all expenditure was food. Even as their consumption decreased, the average monthly expenditure for cash purchases increased by Tk 203 per person.

Their monthly cash expenditure is only Tk 1,252 per person per month.