By: BISWAJIT MAHAPATRA
Socioeconomic status and food security are very important factors related to livelihood. Agriculture is the basic source of income for tribal people. The present study assesses the socio-economic status, food security, agricultural land, paddy crop production and consumption among two tribal communities in West Bengal, India. It determines the relationship between socio-demographic factors and birth weight among tribal children aged 1 to 5 years. Data is collected through house-to-house interviews. A total of 848 households (434 Santal and 414 Bhumij) were studied. The data was analyzed by SPSS software (ver. 16.0). The majority of the households belong to a low socioeconomic status and significant ethnic associations (p= <0.05) were found. Agricultural land, paddy crop production and consumption were higher in the Santal community. High food insecurity was observed in both ethnic groups (Bhumij = 56.3%; Santal = 55.5%). Socioeconomic status was significantly associated with food security in both ethnic groups (p= < 0.001). Birth order and socio-economic status wise positively significant associations found with the birth weight of the tribal children. The present study concludes that the effects of birth order and socio-economic status on child birth weight and similarly, birth weight affect children’s future growth and development.
