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Food and Nutrient Intake Pattern of the Household Members in Two Contrasting Districts of Bangladesh: an Empirical Study

U. K. Majumder*
Department of Statistics, Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science & Technology University, Dinajpur, Bangladesh.

M. N. Islam
Department of Statistics, Biostatistics and Informatics. University of Dhaka, Bangladesh

D. N. R. Paul
Department of Business Administration, Uttara University, Uttara, Dhaka, Bangladesh

M. A. K. Azad
Department of Statistics, Jagannath University, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

This study was conducted to find out the food and nutrient intake pattern of the household members in two selected districts of Bangladesh, namely, Dinajpur and Bagerhat. A three-stage simple sampling technique was followed for selecting the 2 (two) villages from each of the selected districts. Households and households members in four selected villages were 413 (220 in Dinajpur and 193 in Bagerhat) and 1901 (984 in Dinajpur and 917 in Bagerhat) respectively was investigated. Data were collected during October – March, 2006-07. The socio-economic conditions, food and nutrient intake pattern for the rural households of Dinajpur showed much better compared to the rural households of Bagerhat. Hence, the households of rice surplus area were socially and economically ahead and live a comparatively better life than the rural HHs of rice deficit area. Intakes of protein, vitamin and minerals enriched food items mainly from fish, meat, egg, pulse, milk as well as fats & oil by the households increased with the increase of per capita monthly income and expenditures of households. While, intakes of rice increased with the lower education levels of HH head and for poor families. Food insecurity was more prevalent among female members compared to their male counterparts indicated that the females were deprived of adequate food and nutrients intake, a common situation of their rural communities.

Keywords: Food intake, Poverty, Nutrients intake, Rice surplus, Rice deficit, Recall method

Location: Dinajpur in the north-western part and Bagerhat in the south-western part of Bangladesh

Start Date: 00-10-2006

End Date: 00-03-2007

Program Area: Food Safety and Security

Commodity: Dietary intake

Objectives:

Thus, the problem of adequate nutrition demands research and development activities to make an effective contribution in nutrition intake. To understand the relating food consumption behavior of the selected areas of the country and also to assess the changes that have taken place in the community in the context of the present scenario, a study (i) investigated the food intake pattern of the households by socioeconomic characteristics as well as by nutritional status and (ii) determined the interfamily food intake pattern by male and female members.

Methodology:

Study area and sampling: This research work was conducted in two ecologically contrasting districts, i.e. Dinajpur in the north-western part and Bagerhat in the south-western part of Bangladesh characterized by surplus and deficit in rice productions, the staple food of Bangladeshi people. For the sampling sixty four (64) districts of Bangladesh were divided into two categories as rice surplus districts (43) and rice deficit districts (21). Census population of 2001 and the corresponding rice production for the year 2000-01 (BCA, V3.0) were used for determining the rice surplus and rice defecit districts. The districts were selected purposively based on the following criteria: ? Dinajpur is a rice surplus and Bagerhat is a rice deficit district ? The districts are ecologically different ? The districts differ markedly in farming systems ? The livelihood pattern of the districts are different.

Three-stage simple random sampling technique was followed for selecting the villages from each of the selected districts. In the first stage, two Upazilas were selected from each district. In the second stage, one union was selected from each selected Upazila. In the third stage, one village was selected from each union. All the households in selected villages were surveyed by using standard pretested questionnaires. Total number of enumerated households and households members in four selected villages were 413 (220 in Dinajpur and 193 in Bagerhat) and 1901 (984 in Dinajpur and 917 in Bagerhat) respectively. Data were collected during October – March, 2006-07.

Data collection technique: The quality of collected data were checked and rechecked by the researcher to find out any lacking regarding information. The respondents were the household heads and their spouses (male and female guardians of the households).

Twenty four (24) hours dietary recall method: The most commonly used dietary intake method is the 24 hours dietary recall method (Sukhatme, 1976; Abdullah, 1976; Frances et al, 1994 and Ziegler, 1996). Ziegler (1996) described the dietary data collection methodologies for obtaining food intake information to households and consumption by individuals. Essentially, the individual is asked to recall and describe the kinds and amounts of all foods ingested during a 24-hour period. The interviewer used cups, spoons, plates, and glasses etc. of different sizes for determining weights. Respondents were asked to provide information on the number of different food items they served to their family members and consumed by them. The interviewer then compared the identified extent with the standard codes to determine the weights of the consumed food items. Dietary calculation (determine the edible portion of different food items consumed) of the raw food weight that consumed by the households and as well as by the individual members were done by the help of a dietician. All the cooked food items consumed were converted into raw weight of edible portion according to conversion factors for specific cooked food items developed by Ali and Pramanik (1991).

Data management and statistical analysis: Socioeconomic, demographic and food intake data were analyzed by dBase software. FORTRAN software package was used in calculating nutrients intakes of the food consumption by the household members. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS for windows ver 16.0 (SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA). Summary statistics such as means, standard deviation etc. was computed for various comparisons. Significance tests of mean differences (t-test, F-test) on dietary and nutritional measures and other quantitative variables. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was computed to identify the relationship between socioeconomic/demographic factors on food and nutrient intakes.

Source of Information: Journal of Science and Technology 11(June 2013): 51-63

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

The family size was found to be larger in rural Bagerhat compared to Dinajpur, but the mean education level of the household head and household land size was higher for Dinajpur. The economic conditions for the rural households of Dinajpur showed much better compared to the rural households of Bagerhat. This indicates the better socioeconomic status of the households in Dinajpur as compared to Bagerhat. Hence, the households of rice surplus areas are socially and economically ahead and live a comparatively better life than the rural HHs of rice deficit areas.

Per capita per day consumption of total food weight as well as most of the individual food items was higher for Dinajpur as compared to Bagerhat district. Almost all the nutrients intake by the rural households in Bagerhat was lower than those in Dinajpur, which might be due to the consequences of comparatively low food intake by the families of Bagerhat than the families of Dinajpur. The lower quantities of food intake might further be attributed to lower economic conditions of the rural households of Bagerhat, compared to Dinajpur.

Intakes of protein, vitamin and minerals enriched food items mainly from fish, meat, egg, pulse, milk as well as fats & oil and total food intake by the households increased with the increase of per capita monthly income and expenditures of households. While intakes of rice or carbohydrate decreased with the increase of education levels of HH head. This was true for both the districts, Dinajpur and Bagerhat. The analysis shows that food and nutrients intake by rural households increases with the decreases in dependency ratio of the households. Male-female differences in food and nutrient intake pattern in the rural households of Dinajpur and Bagerhat was remarkable. Food insecurity was more prevalent among female members. Intake of cereal (particularly rice), fish, total food, and other nonspecific food items, as well as nutrients intake by the females, was less compared to their male counterparts indicated that the females were deprived of adequate food and nutrients intake, a common situation of rural communities.

Knowledge Management: Journal