Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

Contextualizing the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on food security in two small cities in Bangladesh

Ruszczyk, H.A.; Rahman, M.F.; Bracken, L.J.; Sudha, S.

Contextualizing the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on food security in two small cities in Bangladesh Thumbnail


Authors

M.F. Rahman

L.J. Bracken

S. Sudha



Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic is an evolving urban crisis. This research paper assesses impacts of the lockdown on food security and associated coping mechanisms in two small cities in Bangladesh (Mongla and Noapara) during March to May 2020. Due to restrictions during the prolonged lockdown, residents (in particular low-income groups) had limited access to livelihood opportunities and experienced significant or complete loss of income. This affected both the quantity and quality of food consumed. Coping strategies reported include curtailing consumption, relying on inexpensive starchy staples, increasing the share of total expenditure allocated to food, taking out loans and accessing relief. The pandemic has exacerbated the precariousness of existing food and nutrition security in these cities, although residents with guaranteed incomes and adequate savings did not suffer significantly during lockdown. While coping strategies and the importance of social capital are similar in small and large cities, food procurement and relationships with local governments show differences.

Citation

Ruszczyk, H., Rahman, M., Bracken, L., & Sudha, S. (2021). Contextualizing the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on food security in two small cities in Bangladesh. Environment and Urbanization, 33(1), 239-254. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956247820965156

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Sep 7, 2020
Online Publication Date Oct 17, 2020
Publication Date Apr 1, 2021
Deposit Date Sep 28, 2020
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Environment and Urbanization
Print ISSN 0956-2478
Electronic ISSN 1746-0301
Publisher SAGE Publications
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 33
Issue 1
Pages 239-254
DOI https://doi.org/10.1177/0956247820965156

Files


Published Journal Article (Advance online version) (1.8 Mb)
PDF

Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Copyright Statement
Advance online version This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).





You might also like



Downloadable Citations