Tea Garden Workers and their Food Security Assessment

Abstract

The study analyzed the food security of tea garden workers in BarlekhaUpazila of Moulvibazar districtin Bangladesh. A total of 100 respondents (from three tea garden New Somonbag Tea Garden, Patharia Tea Garden and Mukam Tea Garden) were interviewed to evaluate the food security. This study also deals with different aspects of food security and socioeconomic conditions of tea garden worker. Analytical techniques employed included descriptive statistics of respondents' characteristics and linear regression analysis to identify factors affecting calorie intake. It was found that literacy rate of the tea garden workers was 47 percent out of which 33 percent were primary level and 13 percent were secondary level. Average Body Mass Index (BMI) 19.9 which was normal. The study found that average daily per capita calorie intake by tea garden workers was 2013 kcal lower than the national average of 2200 kcal. In addition, around 46.98% of the total calorie intake was received from the rice and 32.08% of the total calorie intake was received from the wheat consumption. Ordinary Least Square model analysis result showed that factors such as, food expenditure, family size, household labour, farm income and agricultural land of households were positive and significant influence on calorie intake. It has been suggested in the study that all out efforts must be made to raise awareness among the tea garden worker about food security and related matters.