PESHAWAR: The displaced people, who have returned to their once militant-infested native lands in Fata, are vulnerable to food insecurity as majority of them own agricultural land with low productivity, insists a study jointly conducted by UN agencies and other relief organisations.

These organisations have issued concern about the state of livelihood and food security saying around 60 percent of households own agricultural land and 86 percent of them have reported cultivating their land.

“However, productivity is very low with annual production sufficient for only 3.5 months on average,” said the report titled ‘returning home: livelihoods and food security of Fata returnees.’

Study says most IDPs own land with low productivity

The survey was jointly conducted by the UN World Food Programme, Food and Agriculture Organisation, International Rescue Committee and Food Security Cluster with the coordination of the Civil Secretariat Fata.

“The returnee populations are vulnerable to food insecurity. Overall, 28 percent of the households have acceptable food consumption, 18 percent have poor consumption, while 54 percent have borderline consumption and 44 percent of households suffer from a caloric consumption deficit, considering a minimum daily requirement of 2,100 Kcal per person,” said the report.

Despite the significant length of time that many surveyed families had spent back in their areas of origin after returning, the study revealed a high level of concern for the general state of livelihood and food security among these households.

The field surveys included interviews with 1,931 households, 39 key informants, 78 traders, and focus group discussions in 35 previously returned communities. On average, surveyed families had lived in displacement for 1.7 years and had resided in the homes where they were during this survey for an average of three years after their return from displacement.

The survey found that the worst food insecurity among the six agencies was found in Kurram and Khyber agencies with larger numbers of recent returnees who had arrived on average 1.1 and 1.6 years ago, respectively.

The bodies recommended that returnees in Kurram and Khyber agencies required more immediate assistance to improve their food security, followed by South Waziristan and Orakzai. Long term development programmes would be more appropriate for returnees in Bajaur and Mohmand.

According to the report almost 90 percent of returnees were living in kacha houses, 52 percent were consuming unsafe drinking water, and less than a tenth were using any water purification system. Sanitation is a serious concern with 56 percent of men and 12 percent of women practicing open defecation.

The quality of diet consumed is very poor with 52 percent of their total energy derived from wheat, and 63 percent from three staple cereals. Thirty percent of households were relying on a consumption-based coping strategy and 45 percent on livelihood based coping strategies to meet their food needs.

Overall, six percent of the households were headed by women. There was a large difference in education level between men and women, only one third of the heads of households had any education, while among women-headed households this figure was only 15 percent compared to 36 percent for men.

“Female headed households had worse food security indicators in terms of food consumption scores and caloric intake, and thus a higher proportion of these households had to resort to multiple and negative coping strategies,” according the findings of the report.

It further said 10 percent of women didn’t have CNICs.

The report said returning tribesmen were vulnerable to food insecurity and this was closely linked to livelihood. Hence food assistance, either through food-for-work or cash-for-work modalities, would be an important means to enhance their food security as well as to create durable assets and improve livelihoods.

According to it, the support to agriculture and livestock is vital for helping households enhance their food production and that agricultural support should include provision of agricultural inputs.

“The programmes to generate non-farm employment/livelihoods should also be implemented while support to rebuild houses is essential since most families are living in kutcha houses.

The report recommended improvement in health facilities and rehabilitation of community infrastructure on priority basis.

“Given the poor state of education, it is important to have programmes to enhance education and awareness, particularly for women and girls. School feeding programmes, including education of adolescent girls are important,” it said.

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2016