The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

MORE and more of the working poor are depending on food assistance as they combat the “silent struggle” of hunger, according to a local humanitarian organisation.

Anna Bancroft, Hands for Hunger (H4H) communications manager, said the number of employed persons seeking help to feed themselves was a growing trend that has only increased in the seven years since the organisation was founded.

She also pointed to a recent survey that revealed food security is a worrisome subject for Bahamians regardless of age, sex or income.

More than 300 Bahamians were randomly sampled for a telephone survey last month to determine their spending habits on groceries. The study revealed more than 20 per cent of respondents wished they could spend between $200-$299 on groceries every week if money was no object.

Some 40 per cent of respondents said they personally knew someone that had gone without a meal in the last six months because they could not afford it.

The findings were included in a market research report conducted by research firm Public Domain and presented at a forum on national food security hosted by H4H on World Hunger Day.

Seventy per cent of respondents said there were times when they wanted to buy healthy food but did not because it was too expensive.

“H4H calls hunger the silent struggle,” Ms Bancroft said. “We’re a prideful people, and we may send our children to school with a belly full while we ourselves go to work hungry. A (growing) demographic that we’ve been watching through annual surveys with our recipient agencies, and just through the calls we’re getting in the office, are the working poor,” she said.

“People who have one job, maybe two, but after catering to their children, paying their bills they just can’t find the means to make ends meet, and that’s an unfortunate statistic.”

Ms Bancroft added: “(When) we came on stream in 2008, our national unemployment level wasn’t where it is now, increasingly high numbers, but of the people who are employed we’re noticing that trend going up unfortunately from the working poor.”

In the report, findings were presented according to age, sex, and income.

Age categories were grouped: 18-34; 35-54; and persons 55 years old and older.

Income groups reflected annual earnings and were defined as: less than $20,000; between $20,000 and $40,000; between $40,000 and $60,000; $60,000 and more.

Less than 30 per cent of respondents said they purchased local fruit and vegetables more than once a week. Twenty-four per cent of persons earning between $40,000 and $60,000 per year indicated that this number was less than one per month.

Most respondents indicated that they spent between 10 per cent to 19 per cent on locally grown or bred food items.

High-income earners, women, and respondents aged 18-34, were the largest groups that admitted to food wastage in the last six months. However, responses in each category were less than 50 per cent.

Public Domain also conducted an online survey that focused on grocery shopping and eating habits during May 22 and May 26. Of the 229 respondents, vegetables, fruit, and eggs were the top three items that were always in their grocery basket. Fish or seafood was the top grocery item that respondents wanted but can’t always afford, with fruit and beef (steak or roast) closely following.

While 37 per cent of respondents said they ate fast food once per week, only 34 per cent of respondents indicated that they ate a home cooked meal every week.