Highlights
– Food Security situation in Tajikistan has steadily exacerbated in the past four years with the highest prevalence of food insecurity observed in May 2017. Households in this monitoring period are also marked with the highest percentage of food expenditure.
– While the food insecurity gap between male and female headed households has narrowed, the food insecurity level for both groups is the highest since 2014.
– Increased use of food consumption-based coping strategy may indicate a deterioration of food security in Tajikistan.
– Malnutrition rates among surveyed households remain stable, and at a level of concern. Among surveyed children under 5 years old, 5 percent of them were wasted, 11 percent underweight and 31 percent stunted.
Methodology and Key Indicators
– Methodology: Under the Food Security Monitoring System, 1,300 households in the rural areas of 13 livelihood zones1 are interviewed twice a year, in Apr/May and Nov/Dec. As households are generally revisited, the sample size is sufficient to be representative for trend analysis, but data are not representative for the entire population of the zone or other administrative unit. Similarly, the child nutrition data are not representative at geographical level, but the results are primarily indicative of the situation for the children residing in the households covered through the study.
– Key Indicators: The food security index is based on the household’s current food security status (the food consumption score) and their coping capacity, based on the indicators of economic vulnerability (share of expenditure used on food and asset depletion).
Context and Recent Developments
Tajikistan is a landlocked, lower-middle income, food deficit country with a population of approximately eight million, three quarters of whom live in rural areas. The mountainous landscape confines the arable area to just seven percent of the country’s surface and poses enormous challenges to food security during the winter period.
Tajikistan has made significant achievements toward economic growth since its independence. Nevertheless, the country remains the poorest in the region of Central Asia, and its economy is vulnerable to commodity price shocks and the economies of neighbouring countries, particularly that of the Russian Federation. Moreover, it has experienced frequent natural disasters and climate change (ADB 2017).
Tajikistan has been identified as remittance reliant country mostly coming from migrants working in Russia. The contraction of the Russian economy since 2015 and the devaluation of the Rouble caused a shock to the Tajikistan economy, with remittances estimated to account for 43 percent of GDP in 2013 down to 29 percent in 2015.
According to Statistical Agency under President of the Republic of Tajikistan, the value of gross agricultural output in 2016 in all categories of farms increased by 5.2 percent as compared to the similar period of 2015 and amounted to 22,234 mln.
Full report: Tajikistan: food security monitoring bulletin
Original source: Reliefweb.
Posted on 31 July 2017.
