13 September 2022 – The Indian Express

Food Security

How does food security work?

• According to the Committee on World Food Security of the United Nations, food security is the state in which all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to enough, safe, and nourishing food that satisfies their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.

The combination of the following three factors results in food security:

• Food must be readily available, that is, it must be consistently and in large enough numbers. It takes into account the supply and production in a certain location as well as the ability to import food through trade or humanitarian aid.
• Food access means that people must be able to routinely obtain enough food, whether it be through outright purchases, domestic production, bartering, gifts, borrowing, or food assistance.
• Food utilisation: Food that is consumed must benefit a person’s nutrition. It includes food preparation, storage, and hygiene practises, as well as aspects of personal hygiene, access to water, and household sanitation.
• Resources available to a household, discretionary income, and socioeconomic standing are all intimately tied to food security. It is also closely related to other problems including rising food prices, environmental change on a global scale, water, energy, and agriculture.

Why is National Food Security Important?

• to strengthen the agricultural industry.
• for keeping food prices under check.
• in order to reduce poverty through economic expansion and employment creation
• for commercial opportunities
• for enhanced stability and security around the world
• for better heath and health

India’s food security:

• Concerns over food security can be linked to the Bengal Famine, which occurred in 1943 during British colonial control and resulted in the starvation deaths of between 2 million and 3 million people.
• Since gaining independence, India has been subject to a number of shocks on the food security front due to its initial push to industrialise while ignoring agriculture, two consecutive droughts in the mid-1960s, and reliance on food aid from the United States.
• In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the nation underwent a Green Revolution that helped it overcome productivity stagnation and dramatically increase food grain production.
• Despite its success, the Green Revolution is frequently criticised for its narrow focus on just two cereals—wheat and rice—its confinement to a small number of resource-rich regions in the northwestern and southern parts of the country that benefited mostly wealthy farmers, and for the excessive strain it placed on the ecology—particularly the soil and water—of these areas.
• The White Revolution, which was started by Operation Flood in the 1970s and 1980s, came after the Green Revolution. India is now the world’s largest producer of milk thanks to this national programme, which has changed the nation’s liquid milk production and marketing.
• Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) cotton and hybrid maize for industrial and poultry use have recently demonstrated remarkable strides in productivity, notably during the post-2000 period. This has resulted in sizeable cotton exports, which made India the second largest exporter of cotton in 2007–2008.

Concerns regarding India’s Food Security:

• India currently has 195 million undernourished people, making it the largest country in the world.
• Due to chronic undernutrition or stunting, about 47 million, or 4 out of 10 children, in India do not reach their full potential.
• In India, agricultural productivity is incredibly low.
• The World Bank estimates that India’s cereal yield is 2,992 kg per hectare as opposed to North America’s 7,318.4 kg per hectare.
• Food baskets are becoming less and less dominated by grains and more and more comprised of high-value agricultural products including fish, eggs, milk, and meat. This pattern will persist as earnings increase, and India’s indirect need for food from feed will increase quickly.
• The FAO reports that 14.8% of the population in India is undernourished in its 2018 report, “The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World.”
• In addition, 51.4% of women between the ages of 15 and 49 who are fertile are anaemic.
• Additionally, the report states that 21% of Indian children under the age of five are wasting, which means their weight is too low for their height, and 38.4% are stunted, meaning they are too short for their age.
• In 2018, India was placed 76th out of 113 nations according to The Global Food Security Index (GFSI), which included four factors: cost, availability, quality, and safety.
• Out of 119 nations that qualified, India came in 103rd on the 2018 Global Hunger Index.

Issues with Food Security:

• Climate change: Difficulty in farming due to higher heat and unpredictable rainfall. Climate change affects not only crops but also animals, forests, fisheries, and aquaculture, and it has serious social and economic repercussions such as decreased earnings, destroyed livelihoods, disruption of trade, and negative health effects.
• Lack of access to remote areas: For indigenous populations, subsistence farming and living in remote, tough terrain have resulted in serious economic backwardness.
• An rise in rural-to-urban migration, a sizable share of the unorganised labour, and inadequate housing and food security have all contributed to the unplanned growth of slums.
• Gender inequality, poverty, overpopulation, and a lack of education.
• Inadequate food delivery via public distribution channels (PDS i.e. Public Distribution System).
• Since the standard for determining whether a household is below the poverty line (BPL) is arbitrary and changes from state to state, deserving recipients of the subsidy are rejected on the basis of non-ownership of BPL status.
• Biofuels: As the market for biofuels has expanded, less land is now being used to cultivate food crops.
• Conflict: Enemies may cut off food supply to gain an advantage by using them as a weapon. The battle may also result in the destruction of crops.
• Unmonitored nutrition programmes: Although the country has several plans for programmes that include improving nutrition as their key component, these are not properly carried out.
• lack of intersectoral cooperation between several ministries as well as incoherent food and nutrition policies.
• Corruption: Selling low-quality grains in ration shops, diverting grain supplies to the open market for a larger profit margin, and irregular store openings all contribute to the problem of food insecurity.

Governmental initiatives recently:

Mission for National Food Security:

• It was established in 2007 and is a centrally sponsored scheme.
• Through area expansion and productivity improvement, it seeks to increase output of commercial crops such as rice, wheat, pulses, coarse cereals, and wheat.
• It helps to improve farm level economy and restore soil fertility and productivity at the individual farm level.
• Additionally, it seeks to decrease the import of edible oils and increase the availability of vegetable oils.

RKVY: Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana:

• Since its inception in 2007, it has given states the freedom to select their own agricultural and related sector development initiatives in accordance with district and state agriculture plans.
• In 2014–15, it was transformed into a centrally sponsored scheme with 100% central funding.
• For three years, from 2017–18 to 2019–20, Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) will be known as Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana– Remunerative Approaches for Agriculture and Allied Sector Rejuvenation (RKVY–RAFTAAR).
• Goals: To turn farming into a lucrative economic activity by bolstering farmer effort, reducing risk, and encouraging agribusiness entrepreneurship. Along with fostering agri-entrepreneurship and innovations, pre- and post-harvest infrastructure is given primary attention.

 Integrated Programs on Maize, Pulses, Palm Oil, and Oilseeds (ISOPOM):

 Fasal Bima Yojana by Pradhan Mantri:

• E-marketplace: To link all regulated wholesale produce marketplaces through a pan-India trade platform, the government has developed the electronic national agriculture market (eNAM).
• By 2017, the country’s gross irrigated area would have increased from 90 million hectares to 103 million hectares thanks to a massive irrigation and soil and water harvesting scheme.
• Through the implementation of mid-day meals in schools, the government has made tremendous efforts over the past 20 years to combat under- and malnutrition. It is a centrally sponsored programme that includes all students in Classes I through VIII of government-aided schools.
• Meals to expectant and nursing women through anganwadi networks,
• Grain that is subsidised and provided through a public distribution system to people who are under the poverty line.

Good augmentation:

• Up to 75% of the rural population and 50% of the urban population are legally entitled to receive subsidised food grains through the Targeted Public Distribution System under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013.
• For the purposes of issuing ration cards under the Act, the oldest woman in the home who is 18 years of age or older is required to be the head of the household.

International groups working to ensure food security include:

Organization for Food and Agriculture (FAO):

The United Nations Specialized Agency was founded in 1945.

Aiding in the eradication of hunger, food insecurity, and malnutrition is one of FAO’s strategic goals.

Food Assistance Program (WFP):

WFP, which was established in 1963, is the main UN organisation that reacts to food emergencies and has initiatives to fight hunger all over the world.

Worldwide Agriculture Development Fund (IFAD):

• IFAD was established in 1977 with the goal of eradicating rural poverty. It collaborates with underprivileged rural people in developing nations to do this.
• One of the main consequences of the 1974 World Food Conference was this specialised agency of the UN.

World Bank:

• The World Bank, which was established in 1944, actively funds programmes and initiatives related to food.

UNEP:

• It was founded in 1972 to serve as the global body in charge of governing environmental issues. Food security is one of the subjects the UNEP is now addressing.

International projects:

• UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon formed the High-Level Task Force (HLTF) on Global Food and Nutrition Security in 2008.
• It seeks to encourage the development of a thorough and coordinated international solution to the problem of ensuring food and nutrition security on a global scale.
• The First Millennium Development Goal (MDG 1) was created, with one of its goals being to reduce the number of people who experience hunger by half by 2015.
• The Zero Hunger Challenge was introduced by the UN Secretary-General in 2012 at the Rio+20 World Conference on Sustainable Development.
• The goal of the Zero Hunger Challenge is to spark a global movement that will end hunger within a generation. It demands:
• There are no under-twos who are stunted.
• 100% of people have year-round access to enough food.
• Sustainable food systems are universal.
• Productivity and revenue of smallholders increased by 100%.
• No food is lost or wasted.
• Goal 2 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG): End hunger, ensure food security, improve nutrition, and advance sustainable agriculture.

Ensure Food Security by Taking the Following Steps:

• To boost agricultural productivity, the government needs to implement an integrated policy framework.
• Apart from providing the farmers with improved technology for cultivation and improved inputs like irrigation facilities, availability of better quality seeds, fertilisers, and credits at lower interest rates, the measures should primarily focus on a rational distribution of cultivable land, improving the size of the farms, and providing security to the tenant cultivators.
• Plants can be grown in systems like hydroponics and aeroponics that don’t require soil. In this manner, plants efficiently absorb nutrients and water. These techniques can be applied to locations with eroding soil and low soil quality.
• By enabling equivalent or greater yields to be attained with less water extraction, the adoption of cultivars and practises with reduced water requirements, such as the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) method of rice cultivation, adds to resilience.
• Resilience can also be increased by growing crops with reduced water requirements and using agricultural techniques that keep the soil moist, such as keeping vegetation cover between crops.
• Crop diversification: Increased profitability and production stability show the value of crop diversification, for example, replacing legumes with rice and wheat. It is important to promote the growing of non-cereal crops such fruits, vegetables, and oilseeds.
• It is necessary to implement better food storage techniques.
• The Blue Revolution: Food and nutrients can be obtained from the ocean, lakes, and rivers. Fish are an excellent source of protein and don’t need fertile ground.
• Biotechnology and suitable technology: It is possible to selectively breed or genetically modify (GM) plants and animals to provide them particular traits and adaptations.
• Selective breeding, for instance, has been applied to dairy cows to boost milk production. Wheat has been genetically modified to produce crops that are resistant to disease.
• Existing direct nutrition programmes need to be updated so that women’s Self Help Groups (SHGs) and/or local organisations can manage them. Another area could be the orientation and training of community health workers, Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI) members, other opinion leaders, caregivers, and other stakeholders.
• The relevant health agencies and authorities should make an effort to launch and oversee the smooth operation of nutrition-related programmes.
• Program outcomes may be assessed by annual surveys and rapid assessments surveys, among other methods.
• By offering fair salaries and wholesome working conditions, attention needs to be turned toward the workers in the unorganised sector.
• It will be beneficial to educate the local community using planned and participative communication methods on important family health and nutrition practises.
• In India, particularly in the south and west, cooperatives play a significant role in ensuring food security. The cooperative organisations established stores to provide low-cost goods to the underprivileged. It is important to support the cooperatives.
• Creating stronger economic ties between rural and urban areas can help to ensure food security by:
• Improving and expanding job options in rural areas, especially for women and young people,
• Enabling social protection to help the underprivileged better manage risks,
• Using remittances for investments in the rural sector as a practical way to enhance living standards.

Steps to Take:

• A country’s food security is guaranteed if there is enough healthy food accessible for every resident, everyone has the means to purchase food of a sufficient standard, and there are no barriers to accessing food.
• A fundamental tenet of international human rights law is the right to food. It has grown to include a requirement that state parties uphold, respect, and fulfil the right of their citizens to food security.
• India has a responsibility to uphold the right to adequate food and the right to be free from hunger as a state party to both the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights.
• To ensure sustained food security, India must establish a policy that integrates disparate issues including inequality, food diversity, indigenous rights, and environmental justice.