Sri Lanka food security
Image: World Vision Lanka
In early 2022, Sri Lanka was confronted with an unprecedented multi-dimensional crisis, the worst since the country’s independence in 1948. With an already vulnerable economy still recovering from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the country was hit by inflation, shortages of many essential goods, a reduction in agricultural production over several harvest seasons and rapidly rising food prices.
Households were spending nearly 82% of their income on food in July 2022. It was estimated that 6.3 million people were food insecure, with 76% relying on coping strategies like eating cheaper and less nutritious food, limiting portion sizes, or reducing the number of meals per day.
Child nutrition was particularly impacted, with flow on effects to schooling. Sri Lanka has the second-highest rate of acute malnutrition among children under 5 in South Asia and at least 17% of children are suffering from chronic wasting, a disease that carries a high risk of death.
Further exacerbating the food security and economic crisis, agricultural livelihoods were impacted by high production costs and a drastic shortage of fertilizer. Farmers were unable to plant as much as they normally would, increasing dependence on costly imported foods.
The AHP response
Image: World Vision Lanka
As part of a broader $25 million package of support from the Australian Government, the Australian Humanitarian Partnership was activated to support food security in some of Sri Lanka’s most vulnerable provinces.
World Vision Australia led the AUD $3.3 million AHP response with World Vision Lanka, and local partner NGO Sarvodaya.
The 18 month response focused on food security and nutrition needs in Uva and North Central provinces.
Highlights
One of the key achievements of the response was significant improvement in economic status and wellbeing of women and people with disabilities. Improvements were seen in agriculture, entrepreneurship, and decision making, with participants empowered through training and resources provided by the response. The project evaluation found widows and single women were provided with opportunities to engage with the project, which empowered them and provided them with new economic opportunities. The overwhelming majority of respondents (99.3%) expressed supportive attitudes towards women's economic participation, a positive shift in societal norms towards gender equality and up from 56.4% at baseline. The evaluation also found that farmers now understand the importance of including people with disabilities in their activities.
Through the provision of preschool meals, the response addressed a critical gap in nutritional support for children aged 3-5. The meals program operated in all five project locations covering 107 preschools, and 2,478 children. Reports from the Ministry of Health showed significant weight gain, and preschool attendance records showed increased attendance thanks to the program. More broadly, the response significantly improved nutrition levels among children, reducing the prevalence of underweight children by an average of 3% across the project areas. 712 underweight children also received specialised rehabilitation support through targeted education programs for their families. The project’s efforts to improve food security and dietary diversity for the most vulnerable households were found to be effective, with the evaluation finding the proportion of households having acceptable food consumption increased from 36.8% at baseline to 83% at endline.
11,301 farmers (women 4,504, men 6,741, women with disability 20, men with disability 36) received seeds and cash assistance for the Yala season, and subsequent yield survey reports revealed significant increases in paddy, maize, cowpeas, and green grams. Farmers attributed these positive outcomes to the quality climate resilient certified seeds provided by the project.
Driven by the limited resources available in animal husbandry and the demands of dairy farmers, partnerships were forged with government agencies such as the Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka (MASL) and the Provincial Department of Animal Production and Health (DAPH) to operationalise dairy sector activities for 451 dairy farmers, alongside cash assistance. Monitoring visits to the farmers found that new varieties of fodder cultivation had boosted their milk collection, in turn increasing their income. The response also worked to establish new market connections to enhance income, product quality, and market sustainability.
The response successfully integrated humanitarian and development approaches to address both immediate community needs and longer-term challenges.
For example, high-quality climate resilient certified seeds were supplied to fulfill urgent short-term agricultural needs, along with financial support for land preparation, while farmers were supported to produce their own seeds for future growing seasons to tackle longer-term productivity issues. Market channels for the seed paddy farmers were established in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture, leading to a high demand for the seed paddy during the Yala season.
This dual approach of promoting registered seed paddy production and self-seed cultivation demonstrates a successful example of how the AHP response addressed both a comprehensive humanitarian response and a sustainable recovery strategy.
Field stories from Sri Lanka
