Life in a Time of Food Price Volatility is a three-year long (2012 to 2014) longitudinal study. In Bangladesh, the project includes one urban and two rural locations where qualitative research has been conducted. The research focuses on the impacts of food price volatility on paid work, the work of care or looking after families and others, on relationships, and on what is happening to the resources people have with which to cope.
In 2014, the key findings of the research show that in two of the three sites, significant improvement has taken place in lives of poor people in their wellbeing. In the third site, serious flooding has affected both prices and wellbeing. At the first two sites job opportunities and wages have gone up, and multiple household members have started working. School drop outs have decreased and household savings have increased. Overall, the wellbeing and food security of the studied households in these two sites have improved in 2014 compared to previous years. In the third site the lack of NGO and government support after the flooding has caused significant stress.
While hunger has not been such an issue in 2014, quality of food is gradually becoming an important consideration. Processed and unsafe food has become a part of daily life. While for the rural poor eating these food items is occasional and often a choice, for urban poor it is an everyday practice out of necessity. In both rural and urban sites, children eat cheap and unsafe street food (e.g. ice cream and pickles), which may have long-term negative health impacts. The paper presents the key findings of 2014 research in subsequent sections.