Opinion of the zakat recipients on their food security: a case study on Bangladesh

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of zakat fund on the food expenditure of the households to assess the impact of zakat fund on the agricultural production of the households and to assess the opinion of the zakat recipients on food security status under zakat program. Design/methodology/approach - Samples were selected for this study using the simple random sampling (SRS) technique. A total of 149 households were selected from 196 households. A survey was conducted during January to March 2011 among the project beneficiaries using questionnaire. The ordinary least squares technique was used to assess the impact of zakat on food security status of the zakat recipients. Heteroscedasticity problem was detected in this study which was corrected using White's method. Logit model was used to assess the opinions of the zakat recipients on their food security status under the Hasana project. Findings - This study shows that amount of zakat provided to the poor recipients failed to create any significant influence on their agricultural production, food expenditure and food security status. The study also shows that household income, family members' involvement in agricultural activities and numbers of income-generating activities pursued by the households were the key determinants of households' food consumption. Originality/value - This study helps in assessing the opinion of the zakat recipients about the effectiveness of the zakat program on their living standard in terms of household agricultural production and food security and also assisting in policy planning for alleviating rural poverty in Bangladesh through the zakat system.