The Megaurban Food System of Dhaka/Bangladesh
Project applicants: Prof. Dr. Hans-Georg Bohle (GIUB) & Dr. Wolfgang-Peter Zingel (South Asia Institute; University of Heidelberg )
Research Associates: Benjamin Etzold & Markus Keck
Project duration: 1.1.2007 - 31.12.2010
Funded by: German Research Foundation (DFG)
DFG Priority Program: "Megacities-Megachallenge: Informal Dynamics of Global Change" (SPP 1233)
More information on the subproject: "The Megaurban Food Systems of Dhaka"
Poster: "The Megaurban Food System of Dhaka / Bangladesh" (2009)
Our project aimed at understanding the functioning of Dhaka’s food system and evaluated challenges to its resilience and to food security in terms of availability, accessibility and affordability of food.
The project integrated development economics and development geography with the concepts of vulnerability, adaptation and resilience in order to address the following questions:
How is the megaurban society of Dhaka organized around food?
- Who are the major actors of the megaurban food system?
- How is the food system regulated, and what particular role do formal and informal institutions play in terms of food system governance?
The central hypothesis of this research project was that the food system of Dhaka reveals a remarkable degree of resilience. We shed light on the factors, key actors and (formal-informal) institutions that govern that resilience.Moreover, it was assessed who gains from it, and who bears its costs in terms of food insecurity (Keck et al. 2008; Etzold et al. 2009).
Based on an agency-based resilience perspective (Bohle et al. 2009), we worked on three complementary conceptual levels of analysis:
- Avoiding the collapse: resilience from a food system
perspective: We looked at the food systems of the megacity and considered its robustness and stability against shocks and disturbances. A particular focus was on the role of wholesale food traders in achieving a resilient food supply and distribution system in Dhaka. It showed that, for instance, rice and fish wholesalers adopt various strategies in order to maximise their profits and to stabilize their businesses. In doing so, they contribute significantly to the food system’s buffering mechanisms (Keck et al. 2008; Keck 2011). - Achieving food security: resilience from a food governance perspective: We looked at issues of food security and viewed them from a food governance perspective. Here, we discussed how systems of adaptive governance, learning and self-organization influence respective states of food security (Bohle et al. 2009). The sale of prepared food in the cities’ public places, for instance, is not only is an essential self-employment opportunity for the urban poor, but also a crucial source of nutrition for vulnerable populations. While street food vending is formally declared as illegal, it is largely tolerated by Dhaka’s authorities. It shows that tensions arise about the actual modes of governance that are in effect in the food system, which has significant repercussions in terms of the food insecurity of the urban poor (Etzold et al. 2009; Etzold 2011).
- Feeding the vulnerable: resilience from a food-insecurity perspective: We looked at issues of community resilience and human security. What are the social sources of resilience that enable people to avoid hunger and secure their livelihoods? A food consumers’ survey in nine slums addressed patterns of food expenditure, consumption and retailing behavior. The adaptive capacities of vulnerable slum households were assessed in the context of the prize hike of food. The results show the great differences among the urban poor in terms of the socio-economic vulnerability of the slum dwellers, their condition of food insecurity and related health outcomes (Zingel et al. 2011).
By identifying key crucial determinants of resilience the project revealed threats and opportunities for achieving a resilient and food secure megacity in the future.
A successor project on “Multiple Modernities in the Megacity – Economic and Spatial Restructuring of Food Markets in Dhaka (Bangladesh)” has been granted by the DFG within the Megacities-Programme for 2011-2012.
For publications of this project see the list of publications of
Hans-Georg Bohle
Benjamin Etzold
Markus Keck
Wolfgang-Peter Zingel
