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Food Security and it’s Challenges in India
Dr. Pawan Kumar
Assistant Professor Department of Economics Smt. Aruna Asaf Ali Govt. PG College Kalka.
Abstract: Food security is access to enough food by all people at all time for an active and healthy life. India is
truly developing now and its income, infrastructure, per capita income has also developed .But the major
problem faced by India is “the problem food management and it’s distribution”. Agriculture is very important to
India, employing 55% of its population and providing 16.5% of its annual GDP. Today, India ranks second
worldwide in farm output. India is the largest producer in the world of milk, cashew nuts, coconuts, tea, ginger,
turmeric and black pepper. It also has the world’s largest cattle population (281 million). It is the second largest
producer of wheat, rice, sugar, groundnut and inland fish. It is the third largest producer of tobacco. India
accounts for 10% of the world fruit production with first rank in the production of banana. Despite ensuring
ample availability of food, existence of food insecurity at the micro-level in the country has remained a
formidable challenge for India. In the recently released Global Hunger Index of 2013, India ranked 63rd out of
120 countries and this report is quite disturbing because India is one of the largest producers of food in the
world. Still India is not in the condition to meet the basic food requirements of people. There are many people in
India who strive hard even for the square meals.
I.
Introduction
Eat food is essential for living like air and water. It is more than getting two square
meals. It has three dimensions- 1) food availability i.e. total food production in the country
plus the imported food plus buffer stocks maintained in govt. granaries like FCI in previous
years. 2) food accessibility i.e. food should be within the reach of every person. 3) food
affordability i.e. an individual should have enough money to buy proper, safe and nutritious
food to
meet his dietary needs.
The need for achieving food security is felt significantly in the recent years due to
enormous pressure from the ever increasing population in India. India after 66th year of
independence has not only seen development and progress but also becoming one of the fastest
growing economies in the world. This accomplishment takes a shattering twist when one looks
at the hunger problem booming within it. Out of the estimate 1.27 billion population, a total of
77% are considered poor and vulnerable, and millions of people fail to get two square meals a
day. In the recently released Global Hunger Index of 2013, India ranked 63rd out of 120
countries and this report is quite disturbing because India is one of the largest producers of
food in the world.
The existence of this problem is not merely confined to rural areas but also extend to
urban region. To combat this perennial problem, Government did introduce some major
programme such as Public food distribution system (PDS), the Integrated Child Development
System (ICDS), Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGS),
Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) etc. This major programme fails to penetrate in every section
of the society and hunger continues to thrive among the poor people. The disappointment in the
failure of this programme can mainly be attributed to the prevalence of inequality among the
society, unsuccessful delivery of public services, pathetic liability system and infringement in
the implementation of pro-poor policies. In this backdrop, the National Advisory Council
(NAC) drafted a new "Food Security Bill" in 2010, the bill which is considered as the biggest
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ever experiment in the world for distributing highly subsidized food for any government
through a "rights based" approach . The National Food Security Bill after much debate and
analysis was passed and became a law on 12th September 2013. According to this Act, Food
Security is defined as the availability of sufficient food grains to meet the domestic demand as
well as access, at the individual level, to adequate means of food at affordable prices.. The
globally recognized definition of food security is access to food at the household level at all
times to ensure a healthy and active life for all its members. The household is accepted as the
unit for consideration, rather than, let us say, a country or an administrative subunit of it
because for food security to be meaningful, food must not only be available at these higher
levels, but must be accessible at the lowest unit, the household, and indeed every single
member within it too. In fact, a central aspect of food security is the discrepancy between
availability (at a higher level) and accessibility (at the lowest level). The paradox or scandal
noted above is a manifestation of that discrepancy.
Consider the situation in our country. Food grain production increased from around 50
million tonnes at the time of Independence to over 200 million tonnes in recent years. Although
what was being produced at the time of Independence and for a couple of decades thereafter
was not adequate to meet the caloric requirements of the people, we have now reached a
situation where, if what is produced is distributed equally, the minimum requirements of all can
be met in spite of the tremendous increase in population over more than half a century. In no
part of the world is the foodgrains equally distributed, but the hypothetical calculation goes to
show that availability is not the main issue. Calculations show that in the future also, say in
2030 or 2050, the situation is likely to be similar. Not that all matters relating to availability
have been solved. But India, though still in the low ranks in terms of per capita availability of
food, has reached the stage where, as far as food security is concerned, the accent can be, and
has to be, on access of different sections of the population to what is available.
Objectives of the paper
(a) What is the progress in food supply in terms of availability at the national level?
(b) How far has India progressed in terms of access to food and nutrition requirements at the
household level?
(c) What are the programmes and policies India has followed in order to realize food and
nutrition security?
(d) What should be done to realize food and nutrition security for all the citizens of India ?
II.
Methodology:
The present study is based on the secondary data published by various agencies and
organizations. The present study makes use of data and information provided by IFPRI, Global
Hunger Index of 2013,FCI, Ministry of Agriculture, Newspapers, Magazines, Books,
Economic journals and Internet etc.
Why food security is needed in India?
The International food policy research institute (IFPR) classified the status of hunger
into five category-low, moderate, serious, alarming and extremely alarming. India falls into
the category of alarming. The most important aspect contributing to this development is the
non availability of basic requirement of food. It has been observed that the consumption of
food, in terms of nutrition and quantity, is lacking far behind. According to the study conducted
by National Institute of Nutrition, the minimum per capita food grain required for an adult is
182.5kg/year whereas in India, the availability is only 173.6kg/year and as far as the protein
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requirement is concerned, the daily intake should be 50mg but the situation seems to remain
stagnant, the per capita daily intake is only 10mg
Global Hunger Index of 2013, India ranked 63rd out of 120 countries
TABLE-1
TABLE--1 shows that India has moved from 65th to 63rd in the Global Hunger Index of
2013,making a marginal improvement since 2012,but continues to suffering far behind other
emerging countries.The score for India has improved slightly from 22.9 in 2012 to 21.3 in
2013.
Further studies have indicated that consumption and expenditure on food grain have
decrease up to a certain level due to increase in food prices and enlargement in the consumption
of non-food item. Malnutrition and poverty are the main causes for the adoption of food
security in India. Every year nearly 5000 children die due to inadequate food consumption.
HUNGAMA report published by Nandi Foundation in 2011 found that 42% of the children
under the age of five are underweight and 59% are stunted. Above this, a study conducted by
Food and Agricultural Organisation found that 225 million people i.e. 23% of our population
are undernourished and 260 million people falls under the category of above the poverty line
(APL). The increase in the number of APL household is supposed to decrease the number of
undernourished people but it is happening the other way round.
III.
India’s Food Security Challenges
Food security is the back bone of national prosperity and well being. The health of any
nation is directly linked to food security. Food security may be defined as availability of food
and access to it. A family is considered to be food secure when it’s members do not live in
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hunger or fear of starvation. As per definition of FAO- Food Security exists when all people, at
all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their
dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. There is direct relationship
between food consumption levels and poverty.In India, 30 million people have been added to
the rank of hungry since the mid 1990s and 40% children are underweight. World wide 852
million people are hungry due to extreme poverty and2 billion people lack food security
intermittently due to varying degree of poverty(Sources FAO, 2003). 600 million children die
of hunger every year and17000 everyday.
In India approximately, 320 Indians go to bed without food every night and recent data
is very much alarming and situation is going even worse. Food riots have taken in many
countries of the world. It’s becoming very difficult to maintain food security. In rural context ,
agriculture development for small and marginal farmer is the most important dimension of food
security. The diversification of agriculture for food e.g., cereals, pulses, edible oil yielding,
vegetable, fuel &, timber yielding plants, medicinal and fodder crops are necessary to meet the
food and augment income to farmers to meet the food security. Natural vagaries like excessive
rainfall, drought, and availability of water for irrigation, undulating topography, soil
erosion,and soil type such as degraded soil, acidic &alkaline soil affect the food security. The
income levels of farmer families govern the access to food affordability. Food distribution is a
big problem. PDS (Public Distribution System) is not satisfactorily functioning. The families
very poor within adequate income cannot escape food crisis. Globalization may and may not
help food security. However, there are people who feels that globalization will definitely help
food security due to trade but it’s matter of debate. We will have to aim at food security in
developing countries through increased and stabilized food production on an economically and
environmentally sustainable technologies/ methods. Diversification in agriculture is highly
required. We can not afford to huger, malnutrition and famine.
Accordingly, all of us including Govt. policies seriously need to redesign in order to
meet the present demand and fill the gap of exiting system in order to ensure food
security to every citizen of the country
While making grain available to all is important, it is equally essential to ensure that all food
supplied for consumption remains unadulterated and uncontaminated.
Challenge of contamination
Still, food security, which seeks to end starvation, does not abolish food adulteration. Virtually
all items of food in India have chemicals or adulterants added to them, which make them
unsafe to various degrees. Therefore, every public institution where food is served must ensure
that what is served is chemically safe, nutritionally healthy and makes for the health of the
nation.
This means an organised system of inspecting the quality of food offered in public places. We
should be under no illusion that even godowns where grain is kept for easy distribution have
enough safety features incorporated in them.
The business of making food appear appealing and attractive often spoils the quality of what
we eat. To make the nation healthy, every citizen must be able to buy food that is free from
contamination. This will involve a comprehensive process involving testing facilities or
laboratories even in the villages. We must have a food safety project that makes what we eat
wholesome. Food security cannot be guaranteed merely by the provision of a certain quantity
of grain to each family but by ensuring that every grain that is distributed is wholesome and
nourishing, and not noxious. The ideology of food safety is a composite one, beyond merely
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making grain available physically.
Needed measures
We must have a state-sponsored food safety foundation that has branches all across each State,
with equipment that can test food safety. An empowered force of trained food safety personnel
should visit eateries, food stores, even festival venues where food is served, and take action
where adulteration or contamination is detected through scientific means. The food safety
police must have suitable powers conferred on them under legislative sanction. There should
be an Act that provides statutory instrumentality to thus ensure the health of the people. A
safety police force operating under the Health Ministry with powers of seizure is a new
concept that will require an amendment to the Food Safety Act. Policing the process is a
fundamental obligation of the state.
The destiny of India is as yet uncertain. Jawaharlal Nehru said in a celebrated speech: “The
service of India means the service of the millions who suffer. It means the ending of poverty
and ignorance and disease and inequality of opportunity. The ambition of the greatest man of
our generation has been to wipe every tear from every eye. That may be beyond us but as long
as there are tears and suffering, so long our work will not be over.”
The Food Safety Bill has a serious shortcoming, and this must be corrected by means of
suitable amendments and policy reformation. The prices of vegetables and other necessary
commodities for food consumption keep rising and it is still not clear what the government is
doing to control the trend.
To end starvation, the prices of all food commodities must be regulated. Real food safety is the
have- not humanity’s instrument of contentment.
In rural and tribal areas
This is mainly due to lack of improvement in agricultural productivity owing to inadequate resources and
markets needed to obtain agricultural stability. An agrarian crisis is currently being unleashed in India and
it has a variety of causes, the prominent being the huge cut in government’s development expenditure in
the nineties, particularly in rural areas (6). Following the adoption of structural adjustment policies from
the early 1990s, the focus was shifted on expenditure reduction. As against an average of 3.8 per cent of
the country’s Net National Product (NNP) spent on rural development per year during the seventh plan
period 1985 – 90, the share of spending on rural development was down to 1.9 per cent of NNP in 2000 –
01 and rose only to 2.3 per cent in 2004 – 05. This adversely affected the availability and expansion of
irrigation facilities, improvement in agricultural technology and overall food grain output (7). Lack of
education and job opportunities in rural areas have further added to the problems. Climate change too, has
an impact on the agricultural productivity, which affects the availability of food items and thus, food
security. Major impact of climate change is on rain fed crops, other than rice and wheat (8). For the tribal
communities, habitation in remote difficult terrains and practice of subsistence farming has led to
significant economic backwardness.
In urban population
The key issue which catalyzes the problem of food insecurity in urban areas and needs to be addressed is
the large proportion of informal workforce resulting in unplanned growth of slums which lack in the basic
health and hygiene facilities. Rural-to-urban migration has shown a gradual increase, with its share in
total migration rising from 16.5% to 21.1% from 1971 to 2001 (9). These rural migrants form a large
chunk of population referred to as ‘informal sector’. The emergence of these rural origin pockets in the
urban areas has resulted in a number of slum settlements characterized by inadequate water and sanitation
facilities, insufficient housing and increased food insecurity (10). Another important point which might
promote food insecurity is the dependence of this labourer class on daily employment wages which tends
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to be variable on different days of the month and thus the food procurement and access is also fluctuating.
A striking issue is that in India, all the privilege of the government schemes and programmes, aimed at
helping the urban slum people, is enjoyed only by those slums that are notified. Ironically, around 50 %
of the urban slums are not notified and thus are deprived of the government schemes. People from these
un-notified slums have to buy their food from the common market at the competitive price and are devoid
of the subsidized food made available through Public Distribution System (PDS) (11). In spite of rapid
economic growth since the early 1980s and 1990s, the access and absorption indicators of urban food
insecurity convey a notion that there has been relatively negligible improvement in nutritional intake and
deterioration in terms of food security.
Farmers issue
The prevailing situation in the contemporary farming community needs serious attention
in order to produce 61.2 million tonnes of food grain. Food and non- food prices have increased
significantly in recent years and it's becoming unaffordable for the poor families to cope with
the rising price. The expenditure on cultivation has increased extensively but the agricultural
income has not increased in proportion with its input. In recent years, real wages in agriculture
has increased much faster than the real growth in gross value added in agriculture. During the
period (2007-2011), real farm wages recorded an average growth rate of 6.8% while real
growth in agriculture was only 3.3%.
This has put serious distress among the farmers. Another equally significant factor is the
energy. Energy plays an important role in determining the output of production. The increase in
the price of the energy has affected the food prices in two ways. Firstly, the rise in the price of
petroleum product motivates the government and the corporate sector to go for producing biofuel. The policy for production of bio diesel from Jatropha plant and ethanol from molasses has
already been initiated. This will seriously reduced the land area under cultivation for the
production of food grain.
Secondly, the raising price in the inputs likes fertilizers, pesticides and cost of
mechanical cultivation has made agricultural production very expensive. The share of
mechanical and electrical power in the total power consumption has increase significantly from
39.63% in 1972-1973 to 86% in 2005-2006, while corresponding human and animal power has
come down from 60.37% to13.4% during thesame period.
In recent years, with the increase of income and changes in the dietary pattern, the
middle class families have been spending more on horticulture and livestock product as it
provides more nutrients. And on the other hand the poor farmers whose income remains more
or less stagnant see this as means to earn more income. Marginal farmers change to more
income oriented occupation to
support their household.
Considering this, there is a possibility that the production of horticulture or livestock
production may increase tremendously but the whole purpose of food security will be useless as
this product are costly and poor people will not be able to afford it. This current development
will have serious effect on the sustainability of food security. Not only it will reduce the area
under cultivation but it will also increase the demand for feed grain and subsequently
increasing the cereal prices, affecting the poor household.
Another critical issue which need to be focused for food security is the diversion of
cultivated land towards wood farming. High GDP growth is leading to the increase
consumption of wood and wood products like furniture, timber, pulp and paper. The cultivation
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of poplar tree in some states of northern India has turned out to be more remunerative than crop
cultivation. And many farmers are leaning towards as it is more profitable.
IV.
Safe Storage Of Food Grains And Inadequate Storage Facilities
Wastage of food in India
Picture—1
A file picture shows birds feast on wheat spilling out of damaged sacks at an open
storage facility of the Food Corporation of India on the outskirts of Karnal in Haryana. Photo:
Kamal Narang.
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frustration by throwing The revelation exposes how government is struggling on two
counts – safe storage of foodgrains and inadequate storage facilities for food items.Their year’s
yield of tomatoes on the roads. Having spent nearly 8 rupees ($0.15) for producing one kg of
tomato and failing to get even 1 rupee ($0.02) in the market, most farmers resort to selling their
produce at a loss. Ironically, while farmers are incurring huge losses, end consumers are
shelling out 12-15 rupees for a kg of tomatoes. (Story in Business Line)
Some glaring facts about Wastage of food in India:1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
India, the world’s second largest fruit and vegetable producer encounter a waste of close to 18% worth INR
44,000 crore ($7 billion) of produce.
The latest DIPP paper on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in retail estimated that against a production of
180 million metric tons a year of fruits, vegetables and perishables, India has a capacity of storing only 23.6
million metric tons in 5,386 cold storages across the country.
The Saumitra Chaudhuri Committee in 2012 indicated 61.3 million tonnes of cold storage requirement in
the country against the present capacity of around 29 million tonnes.
The country lost INR 45 crore ($7.2 million) worth of food grain in the past 5 years (Data by Hindustan
Times)
A report by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers reveal that each year, 21 million tonnes of wheat which
is equivalent to Australia’s annual grain production is wasted in India
Food Corporation of India (FCI) reports shows that food grain worth INR 120.29 crore ($19.2 million) was
lost in storage, while INR 106.18 crore ($17 million) worth of grain was lost in transit. The remaining
INR9.85 crore ($1.5 million) worth of food grains were not fit for human consumption (Data from Business
Line)
Issues faced in India:---In spite of surplus food-grains stock, it is also a reality that a vast number of people do
not have enough money to feed themselves twice a day.
1. Inadequate and improper storage facilities for grains, which are often stored outside under
tarps that provide little protection from humidity and pests.
.Insufficient cold storage and cold chain transportation system is a major cause for fruits, vegetables and
other perishable products to rot.
3 . Poor roads and inefficient transport systems can cause massive delays. This in turn causes decay of
temperature sensitive produce.
2
4. Limited reach of Mandis, which are currently the point of aggregation for agricultural
produce. This poses problems for small farmers who don’t have proper transport facilities
at their disposal and have to travel and average of 12 km to the closest Mandi.
5 . Multiple layers of middlemen between the farmer and the end consumer, driving up prices and reducing
bargaining power and price transparency for the farmers. These intermediaries have led to a cost inflation
of
~250% (over the cost of production).
6 . Lack of a well-developed agricultural banking sector, which forces formers to take loans with high interest
from commission agents.
7. Lack of education and training on new techniques, technologies and agricultural products.
8. There has been a gradual shift from cultivation of food crops to cultivation of fruits, vegetables, oil seeds,
and crops which act also as industrial raw materials. This had led to the reduction in net sown area under
cereals, millets and pulses.
9. The use of more and more land for construction of factories, ware-houses and shelters has reduced the
land under cultivation and now fertile land for farming, is no longer available.
10. The productivity of land has started showing a declining trend. Fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides,
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which once showed dramatic results, are now being held responsible for reducing fertility of the soil
V.
Recommendations
There is a need to shift from the existing expensive, inefficient and corruption ridden
institutional arrangements to those that will ensure cheap delivery of requisite quality grains in
a transparent manner and are self-targeting.
Futures market and free trade: The present system marked by input subsidies and high
MSP should be phased out. To avoid wide fluctuations in prices and prevent distress selling by
small farmers, futures market can be encouraged. Improved communication systems through
the use of information technology may help farmers get a better deal for their produce. Crop
insurance schemes can be promoted with government meeting a major part of the insurance
premium to protect the farmers against natural calamities.
To start with, all restrictions on foodgrains regarding inter-State movement, stocking,
exports and institutional credit and trade financing should be renounced. Free trade will help
make-up the difference between production and consumption needs, reduce supply variability,
increase efficiency in resource-use and permit production in regions more suited to it.
Food-for-education programme: To achieve cent per cent literacy, the food security
need can be productively linked to increased enrolment in schools. With the phasing out of
PDS, food coupons may be issued to poor people depending on their entitlement.
Modified food-for-work scheme/ direct subsidies: With rationalisation of input
subsidies and MSP, the Central Government will be left with sufficient funds, which may be
given as grants to each State depending on the number of poor.
The State government will in turn distribute the grants to the village bodies, which can
decide on the list of essential infrastructure work the village needs and allow every needy
villager to contribute through his labour and get paid in food coupons and cash.
Community grain storage banks: The FCI can be gradually dismantled and procurement
decentralised through the creation of foodgrain banks in each block/ village of the district, from
which people may get subsidised foodgrains against food coupons. The food coupons can be
numbered serially to avoid frauds. The grain storage facilities can be created within two years
under the existing rural development schemes and the initial lot of grains can come from the
existing FCI stocks. If culturally acceptable, the possibility of relatively cheap coarse grains,
like bajara and ragi and nutritional grains like millets and pulses meeting the nutritional needs
of the people can also be explored. This will not only enlarge the food basket but also prevent
such locally adapted grains from becoming extinct. The community can be authorised to
manage the food banks. This decentralised management will improve the delivery of
entitlements, reduce handling and transport costs and eliminate corruption, thereby bringing
down the issue price substantially. To enforce efficiency in grain banks operation, people can
also be given an option to obtain foodgrains against food coupons from the open market, if the
rates in the grain banks are higher, quality is poor or services are deficient. A fund can be set up
to reimburse the food retailers for the presented coupons. This competition will lead to constant
improvement and lower prices. It must also be mandatory to maintain a small buffer stock at
the State level, to deal with exigencies.
Enhancing agriculture productivity: The government, through investments in vital
agriculture infrastructure, credit linkages and encouraging the use of latest techniques, motivate
each district/ block to achieve local self-sufficiency in foodgrain production. However, instead
of concentrating only on rice or wheat, the food crop with a potential in the area must be
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