ON May 29, Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi indicated that the food supply in Malaysia is sufficient throughout the full Movement Control Order period.
However, due to loss of jobs, more Malaysians do not have enough money to feed themselves and their families.
With the rising unemployment, there is an increasing worry that more Malaysians do not have sufficient access to nutritious food, apart from to struggling to make ends meet.
According to the Statistics Depar tment (DOSM), the unemployment rate in April is 4.6 per cent, where a total of 742,700 individuals have been affected.
The United Nations Children's Education Fund's (Unicef) "Families on the Edge" survey in February found that overall unemployment among heads of low-income urban families in Kuala Lumpur's low cost housing flats remains high, with one in three adults unemployed.
The Covid-19 pandemic also has modified food expenditure among urban and rural poor.
With a reduction of income, people in the bottom 40 per cent (B40) group have to lower their food intake. They are relatively less capable of buying healthy food compared with the pre pandemic era.
This is reflected under the same Unicef survey, where 57 per cent of households are unable to purchase sufficient food. Insufficient daily nutrient intake will put the health and wellbeing of marginalised communities at risk.
Although the government has initiated numerous social protection schemes to protect lower-income households, a provision of RM500 is insufficient for a family to survive in one month due to the rising cost of living that occurred before the pandemic.
According to the DOSM's Household Expenditure Survey Report 2019, the average monthly household expenditure has increased by 3.9 per cent, from RM4,033 in 2016 to RM4,534 in 2019. In urban areas, household expenditure has increased by 3.7 per cent per year from RM4,402 to RM4,916. Meanwhile, in rural areas, it has increased by 3.6 per cent annually from RM2,725 to RM3,038 between 2016 to 2019.
As a result, the poverty rate among low-income urban families remains high at 42 per cent, according to the Unicef survey. Therefore, EMIR Research has the following recommendations for the Social Welfare Department; Women, Family and Community Development Ministry; Agriculture and Food Industry Ministry; Health Ministry; Education Ministry and Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry:
Integrate food and nutrition-focused programmes with different transfer modalities, such as in-kind, cash or vouchers into social protection systems. Women and children from low-income households, in particular, can use the vouchers or cash to buy food.
Design a targeted public food distribution system to ensure access to diverse, balanced and nutritious meals, especially applicable to the B40, the most vulnerable to food insecurity. To ease delivery, the government should include all B40 families onto their map, especially those in the interior and squatter areas.
Ensure continuity of nutrition services, particularly the early detection of malnutrition and maternal nutrition programmes.
Include nutritious food in the food aid and reach out to those who need it the most through government or community-based programmes. Any donations, marketing and promotions of unhealthy food should not be pursued or accepted during this health crisis.
Develop a data-driven food security monitoring system to follow up with those suffering from hunger and malnutrition. The data is critical to ensure that the stimulus packages introduced in the country may reach the most vulnerable.
While it is laudable that the current administration is committed to tackling food security-related issues, the government has to emphasise the right to food, and ensure that underprivileged communities receive adequate access to fresh, nutritious and local food.
As the majority of the urban and rural poor have limited data connectivity or digital devices, the government, perhaps, could prepare the benefits of having nutritious food in the form of leaflets, in addition to information disseminated through newspapers and magazines.
The relevant authorities could explain the importance of having balanced meals while distributing leaflets through house-to house visits. When the government views access to safe and nutritious food as a human right, nutrition could be the central focus of social protection schemes.
This would ensure the prioritisation of food accessibility among the most vulnerable communities while, at the same time, mitigate hunger pandemic in the country.
The writer is research analyst at EMIR Research, an independent
think tank focused on strategic policy recommendations based on rigorous research
