08 Apr

Food Security

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Content

• What is Food Security?
• Situation in India
• Key Initiatives to Promote Food Security in India
• Key factors which threaten Food Security

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What is Food Security?

• As per the Committee on World Food Security, the food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.
• The Four Pillars of food security are availability, access, utilization, and stability (both price and supply).

Situation in India:

• The ‘State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World’ of the FAO estimates that in 2021 around 74% of the population in India cannot afford a healthy diet. This number may be an  overestimation ,but still shows that a substantial number of people in India are not able to afford health food.
• Other Reports:
  • In 2022, Global Food Security Index ranked India at 68/113 major countries of the world.
  • As per Global Hunger Index, 2023, India’s rank was 111/125 countries.

Key Initiatives to Promote Food Security in India:

• National Food Security Act, 2013: It seeks to provide subsidized food grains to approximately 2/3rd of India’s population.
  • Other than this, Mid-Day Meal Scheme, Integrated Child Development Program, and the PDS system are focused on ensuring nutritional security.
• Various initiatives at state level include:
  • ‘Indira Canteen’ initiative by the state of Karnataka, which serves breakfast, lunch and dinner at very low prices.
  • ‘Amma Unavagam’ (Mother’s Canteen) is an initiative by TN.
• Government also takes several initiatives to control food inflation:
  • Maintaining Buffer stocks
  • Controlling Exports in case of scarcity
  • Using MSP mechanism to encourage farmers to grow crops which are in shortage.

Key factors which threaten Food Security:

• Poor Governance and Geo-Strategic Conflicts
  • Inadequate governance structures to ensure institutional stability, transparency, accountability etc. may lead to poor food supply situation.
    • For e.g. – Corruption in PDS system leads to diversion of food grains meant for poor people.
  • Poor state services in rural areas – For e.g., people in remote areas not being able to get PDS services because of lack of documentation.
  • War, conflict and lack of security may create food security challenges: E.g., Russia-Ukraine war impacted the supply of food grains and led to higher inflation.
• Economic and Production Factors:
  • Poverty, unemployment, inadequate social protection system etc hampers availability of good and nutritious food.
  • Lack of focus on reforms in agriculture sector – Less than the actual potential production.
  • Insufficient farm income of small and marginal farmers
  • High Post harvest losses – due to inadequate infrastructure for storage and market
    access.
• Unsustainable Agriculture Practices:
  • Increased dependency on wheat and rice has led to excess irrigation which has led to water table going down and soil salination.
  • Land Fragmentation is also making agriculture unsustainable which may impact food security in long term.
  • Deteriorating Soil health:
    • Access use of chemical inputs like fertilizers and pesticides is hampering the soil quality.
    • 2023 Soil Health Survey shows that almost half of the cultivable land in India has become deficient in organic carbon, which is an essential indicator of soil health.
• Climate/ Environmental Challenges:
  • Increased cases of droughts, heatwaves, unpredictable rainfall pattern etc. causing damage to food systems.
    • Increase in number of days with extreme temperatures or rain has caused a
      decline in quality and size of seeds across India.
  • Biodiversity Loss for e.g. reduction in population of pollinators also has the potential to impact large majority of food crops.
  • Environmental damage in forests is reducing the food supply their causing wild animals to attack human’s food system (for e.g. the blue bull trouble in India)
• Demographic and Social Issues:
  • Insufficient attention paid to the role and contribution of women and their special vulnerabilities in regard to malnutrition, and many other forms of legal and cultural discrimination they suffer.
  • Inadequate social protection system, including safety nets.
  • Marginalization and discrimination against vulnerable groups such as internally displaced people, refugees etc.
  • Poor availability of safe water, sanitation, maternal and child health facilities.
  • Inappropriate consumption and Over consumption of food, often with a lack of essential macronutrients, can cause serious problems to health, including malnutrition and obesity.
  • Low level of education and literacy leads to detrimental feeding/ behavioral practices etc.

Way Forward:

• Good Governance:
  • Increasing transparency and accountability through effective implementation of initiatives like social audit, RTI and e-governance.
• Consumers side reforms:
  • Demand needs to change towards healthy and sustainable diets.
    • Corporations can mainstream locally grown millets through innovative breakfast
      products.
  • Civil Society and health community can partner with social media influencers who can
    shape healthier and sustainable consumption for millions.
  • Government through initiatives like PDS, mid-day meals, railway catering, urban canteens, and public and institutional procurement, can help improve what at least 70% of Indians are consuming.
  • Religious institutions can also influence food habits.
    • E.g. Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam, which serve nearly 70,000 people daily, has started procuring naturally grown food items.
• Promoting Agricultural Sustainability:
  • More R&D on organic farming and natural farming: The National Mission on natural
    farming is a step in this direction, but the overall funding for sustainable agriculture is
    less than 1% of the agri budget.
  • Shift agri-subsidy from input subsidies to cash transfer: It would promote efficient use
    of inputs, while enabling level playing field for agro-ecological practices to thrive.
  • Consolidation of landholding for e.g. by bringing farmers under an FPO, or through
    contract farming etc. is crucial to deal with challenges of land fragmentation.
  • Second Agricultural Revolution with special focus on east India can be crucial in
    promoting agri-productivity in India.
• Shift farm-to-fork value chains towards more sustainable and inclusive ones.
  • Enable more value addition of agri-produce in rural areas
  • Strengthening FPOs
• Dealing with Climate Change related challenges:
  • Working on Paris Climate targets:
    • Global community needs to work on Paris Climate targets to ensure mitigation of climate change which is emerging us one of the biggest threats to food security.
  • Working towards Adaptation in Agriculture sector:
    • Development of drought and flood resistant variety of crops.

Focus on Demographic and Social Issues

• Gender Equality and Women empowerment is crucial to limit the culture of women eating in the last and prioritizing special food requirement of women specially during pregnancy.
• Special focus on vulnerable groups in rural and remote areas. Prioritize Aadhaar and ONORC initiative for these people so that they are able to enjoy the benefit of all government benefits.

Conclusion:

• The urgency of addressing the above discussed pressing issues through the transformation of food production and distribution systems that harmonize environmental, social, and economic dimensions is imperative.

Practice Questions:

• “There is an urgent need for sustainable and resilient food systems to guarantee sustainable diets that are nutritious and aligned with the evolving ecosystem and climate change” Elaborate [15 marks, 250 words]