ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an analysis on nonfarm employment and calorie consumption in rural areas of Bangladesh. An increase in agricultural production in Bangladesh will lead to an increase in food availability which is considered as an important dimension of food security. However, food security is a complex and multidimensional concept that includes other dimensions along with food availability such as access, utilization, or stability in food intake in terms of availability (FAO et al., 2014). Therefore, a better understanding of the linkage between nonfarm employment and food security is an important topic to be investigated for Bangladesh. Hence, in this chapter, an attempt has been made to study the impact of nonfarm income on the utilization dimension of food security which could be measured through household's calorie consumption per day per adult equivalent in rural Bangladesh. It is evident from the rural livelihood literature that rural nonfarm employment plays an important role in improving the household income, consumption, and food security in relation to various aspects. Although the household calorie consumption per day is a widely accepted measure of food security through food utilization dimensions, much less is known regarding the impact of nonfarm employment on rural households’ calorie intake. No study has been found addressing this issue in relation to Bangladesh. Therefore, considering the increasing importance of nonfarm employment, it is necessary to investigate the linkage between rural nonfarm employment and the household calorie consumption in Bangladesh. To investigate the possible link between nonfarm employment and household calorie consumption this chapter focuses on the following research question: Is there any impact of nonfarm income on household calorie consumption in rural Bangladesh?
