4th Young Economist Competition Christ University, Bangalore, India
“Food Security- Need, Challenges & Access in the context of poverty, nutrition”
Mr. SALIL A. TAMBOLI
ABSTRACT:
Of late the whole world experienced inflated food prices. Even India could not stay away from it. Decreasing food production in relative terms and increasing food prices has become matter of concern. In such a time, India is all set to introduce food security bill. Rising unemployment, increasing malnutrition, falling purchasing power demands proper access and availability of food to poor and less privileged. Poverty can be characterized by non availability clean drinking water, sanitation and primary health care. In country like India where 33% of world’s poor and 27% of world’s malnutrition resides, it becomes necessary to strengthen food security measures. Recently India has been ranked at 66th position on Global Hunger Index and at 25th position on Food Security Risk Index. This indicates urgency of taking concrete steps towards making nutritional food accessible to the large section of society which happens to be poor & undernourished. This paper tries to understand the true meaning of making a country food secured. It also puts light on lacunae in current system. To make India food secured Government has come up with program like Integrated Child Development Services, Mid Day Meal etc. Food Corporation of India has set up Public Distribution System to make food grains available to people which riddles with lot of flaws and malpractices. This paper suggests remedial measures to make India food secured & alleviate poverty by linking it with productive programs. Keywords: Food Security Bill, Global Hunger Index, Food security Index, Integrated Child Development Services, Mid Day Meal, Food Corporation of India, Public Distribution System.
INTRODUCTION:The budget speech which stated that UPA government was preparing a NFSB, which would assure 25 kg of food grains per month, at Rs.3/- kg. to every poor family. This statement once again fired the smoldering questions of poverty and nutrition. Most of the developing countries are facing problem of poverty and food security. India’s food security and nutrition indicators are among the worst in world .some of these indicators have barely improved in recent years. For instances, the proportion of underweight children was much the same in 1998-99 & 2005-06 (1) though India was successful in achieving self-sufficiency by increasing its food production, it could not solve the problem of chronic house hold food insecurity. In this context, an attempt will be made to explore the food security needs of India and the challenges associated with it. The main objectives of the report are? ? ? ? To assess the status of poverty population & nutrition in India. To know the causes of food insecurity & related problems such as poverty & malnutrition. To suggest remedial measures to tackle the problem of food insecurity. To indentify the flaws in current system lay down by Government to face the problem of growing hunger.
Literature Review
Poverty: “Poverty is defined as inability to attain minimum std. of living (World Bank 1990)” “Poverty is defined a social phenomena to full fill even its basic necessities of life.” Malnutrition: “Malnutrition can be defined as deficiency of nutrition & calories than recommended.” Food security: “World Development Report (1986) defined food security as access by all people to enough food for an active and healthy life” “Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO,1983) defined food security as ensuring that all people at all times have both physical and economic access to basic food they need.” From the above definition following points emerge: 1) Food security involves physical availability of the food to the entire population in a country. 2) People have enough purchasing power so that they can acquire the food they need. 3) For healthy life, the food available should be adequate in quantity as well as quality to meet the nutritional requirement. 4) A nation may acquire self sufficiency in food at a point of time, but the concept of food security necessities that timely, reliable and nutritionally adequate supply of food should be available on a long term basis. This implies that a nation has to ensure the growth rate in food supply so that it takes care of the increasing population (2)
The concept of food security is mostly conceived as making available minimum quantity of food to the entire population. In this sense concept is very narrow. But in a dynamic & developing economy this concept broadens. Food security implies ensuring freedom from
hunger, malnutrition & other deprivations associated with the lack of food. Viewed in this manner, it is obvious that food security would along with providing access to cheaper grains; have to create entitlements that guarantee good nutrition (including a balanced intake of calories, protein, fats & essential micro nutrients) & attention to child care, clean drinking water, hygiene, basic health care & so on. About Poverty Line: It refers to the minimum income, consumption or more generally access to goods & services bellow which individuals are considered to be poor. At present as per the GOI poverty line for the urban areas is Rs.296 per month income & Rs.276 per month for rural areas. That is people who earn less than Rs.10 per day are to be considered BPL. As per GOI this amount will buy food equivalent to 2200 calories per day, medically enough to prevent death. But survival on Rs.10 a day is a nightmare in such a inflation riddled era. CHALLENGES:? India stands at 66th rank out of 88 countries in GHI (3) ? India has highest no of malnutrition people i.e. 230 millions & 1.5 million children are at the risk of becoming malnutrition (4) ? 27% of world’s undernourished population lives in India (4) ? 43% children out of entire malnutrition population is underweight ranging between 0-3 age group (4) ? global average of having underweight children is 2.5% and that of sub Saharan Africa is 28% (4) ? 50% of child death happen due to malnutrition.(4) ? India stands at 25th position in FSRI , Bangladesh & Pakistan stands at 20th & 11th position respectively (5) ? 49.1% of poorest slab posses BPL/antoday card (6) ? 17.4% of richest slab posses BPL/antoday card (6) ? 23% of poor didn’t even have ration cards (7) ? 27.5% of Indian population is BPL (7)
? 50% of Indian population is just above BPL (7) ? In 1950, when food grain production growth rate was 7.2%, population growth rate was 3.56%. while from 1995 till the date food grain production growth rate has been 1.2% & population growth rate has been around 1.8% (8) ? 39% of kerosene don’t reach to the intended poor through PDS (9) ? Identifying poor is very big problem in India if we consider 2400 calories daily requirement for rural India & 2100 calories daily requirement for urban areas 84% of rural population & 64% of urban population would be BPL which in average make 50% of Indian population BPL If we considers, monthly expenditure it is estimated that to buy 1973 calories food grain one needs to spend Rs360 in rural areas and Rs560 in urban areas but as per the GOI poverty line for urban area is Rs. 296 per month & for rural area is Rs. 296 per month & global standard demand 1200 calories per day. But by above statement majority of people would be BPL. (10)
? Because of flaws in PDS majority of people remain deprived of government aides and
scheme. Ministry of consumers affairs and food distribution has issued 22.3 crores ration cards while there are 20 crores households. 8 crores BPL cards have been issued while there are only 6.5 crore BPL households. Apart from this many a time categorization between APL & BPL is imperfect. A number of deserving poor have been excluded from BPL fold. (11) ? The FCI procures food grains from farmers at government announced SMP. SMP & off take are at not balanced. However under continuous pressure from powerful farmers lobby the government has been raising MSP & now it has become more than what market offers to farmers. Also quality norms are not observed strictly. Poor farmers lack easy access to FCI. To reduce the fiscal deficit, the government has sought to curtail the food subsidy bill by raising the issue price of food grains and linking it to the economic cost at which the FCI supplies food grains to the PDS. The economic cost comprises the cost of procurement, that is, MSP, storage, transportation and administration and is high mainly because of the artificially inflated MSP and also due to the operational inefficiencies of the FCI. This has pushed the issue price to APL category higher than the market rates and
to BPL category beyond their purchasing power, resulting in plummeting of off take from the PDS. (12) ? Recent kharip season was upsetting as it experienced draught, which discouraged farmers from sowing paddy. Government pinned its hope on pulses in particularly rabbi crop as alternative to make up the massive shortfalls in paddy sowing. In September government announced 15% hike in MSP of pulses & 11% hike in MSP of paddy.(13) ? Till 1st June, 2009 central pool had managed to procure 331.22 lakh tone stock of wheat & 204.03 lack tone of rice. On the other hand it is estimated that TPDS needs 446 lakh ton food grains annually & other welfare schemes needs 50 lakh ton food grains. In spite of this still large number of people are hungry. It indicates flaws in institution.(14)
DATA ANALYSIS &INTERPRETATON:TABLE NO: 1 Net availability, procurement & public distribution of food grains:-
Sources : 1 Year 2.Net production of grains 3.Net imports 4. Net availability of food grains 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 168.2 178.2 183.6 172.2 186.2 152.9 186.5 173.6 182.5 190.1 -2.5 -1.3 -1.4 -2.9 -6.7 -5.5 -6.5 -6.0 -2.3 -4.7 159.6 169.4 168.3 156.9 189.5 170.6 183.3 170.0 181.9 183.7 26.3 30.8 35.6 42.6 40.3 34.5 41.1 Na Na Na 18.6 17.7 13.0 13.2 18.1 22.5 Na Na Na Na -1.6 -0.8 -0.8 -1.8 -3.5 -2.8 Na Na Na Na 15.6 17.3 19.4 24.5 21.7 22.6 Na Na Na Na 11.1 9.9 7.7 8.4 9.6 13.2 Na Na Na Na 5. Procurement 6. Public distribution 7. Col.3 as % of col.4 8. Col 5.as % of col. 2 9. Col 6 as % of col4
1. Department of Food and Public Distribution. 2. Directorate of Economics & Statistics, Department of Agriculture & Cooperation.
P Provisional
a) Net availability = Net production +Net imports - changes in Government stocks. b) Includes quantities released under the Food for Work Program during the year 1978 to 1990.
Notes: 1. Production figures relate to agricultural year: 1951 figures correspond to 1950-51 and so on. Figures for procurement and public distribution relate to calendar years. 2. Net Imports from 1981 to 1994 are only on Government account and from 1995 onwards the Net Imports are total Imports and Export of the Country.
Analysis: Table no.1 shows net availability, procurement & public distribution of food grains. In year 1998-1999 net availability of grains including net import showed up word trend. It increased from 159.6 in 1998 to 169.4 in 1999. Again it reached its peak i.e. to 189.5 which is the highest figure in selected time span. Afterwards it showed averagely increasing trend till 2007. As on other hand procurement trend increased from 1998 to 200. Afterwards it showed decline till 2003.Comparision of procurement & net availability shows that very small quantity is procured. Comparison of public distribution & procurement too doesn’t give satisfactory results. Very less quantity is distributed than what is procured. Column 8 & 9 shows that very less quantity is procured & distributed out of entire net availability. It signifies need of strengthening PDS. So that everyone gets access to food.
TABLE NO.2 Projected annual per capita domestic demand for selected food items
Unit: kg/annum)
Food items
Scenario 1 2011 2021 72.0 59.6 180.4 2026 72.3 48.9 193.4
Scenario 2 2011 80.1 50.0 159.9 2021 71.9 47.8 182.2 2026 72.2 46.6 196.0
Rice Wheat Total cereals Pulses Edible oil Sugar
80.2 51.0 159.3
19.5 13.3 22.6
28.8 19.8 40.9
36.1 25.0 57.4
20.4 14.2 24.9
31.6 22.4 48.8
40.8 28.9 71.2
Note: Scenario 1: GDP is 8% per annum Scenario 2: GDP is 9% per annum
Analysis: Table no.2 shows projected per capita demand for food items which is based on the two scenarios. In both scenarios estimated demand for food grains, sugar, pulses & oil shows increasing trend. It indicates that demand for food would keep on increasing which shows need of taking concrete steps to ensure food security.
Table No. 3 Projected domestic supply of selected food items in India:-
Food items
Base year 200304
Supply projection (unit: million metric tons) 2011 95.7 80.2 209.7 16.1 10.1(29.9) 25.0(245.0) 2021 105.8 91.6 242.2 17.6 12.5(36.9) 26.0(255.2) 2026 111.2 97.9 260.2 18.4 13.9(41.1) 26.6(260.5)
Rice Wheat Total cereals Pulses Edible oil Sugar
88.3 72.1 186.9 14.9 8.6(25.3) 24.2(237.1)
Note: 1. Area & yield growth rate for the period 1994 - 95 to 2004- 05 on the base period triennium ending 1993-94 are used for agriculture statistics at a glance, 2007, Directors of economics & statistics ,GOI. 2. 10.2% is conversion of sugarcane to sugar & 33.9% is the average conversion factor of edible oil seed to edible oil. Figures in the parenthesis are the supply projections for oil seed & sugarcane in respective columns.
Analysis: Table no.3 shows projected per capita supply of food items using 2003-04 as a base year. Though in absolute terms supply shows increasing trend, it has to be viewed in relative terms as well, using demand supply gap analysis.
Table no.4 Supply- demand gap for selected food unitsUnit: million metric tons) Food items Gap (demand- supply)
2011 Rice Wheat Total cereals Pulses Edible oil Sugar 1.26 22.1 21.9 -8.05 -6.66 -4.31
2021 8.98 27.33 -2.94 -24.92 -17..68 -39.67
2026 9.13 32.04 -16.97 -39.31 -26.99 -74.13
Note: 10.2% is conversion factor of sugar cane to sugar % 33.9% is the average conversion factor of edible oil seed to edible oil. Demand scenario of GDP growth rate at 9% is considered here. Analysis: Table no.4 shows demand supply gap for selected food items based on demand & supply projections used by us in table no.2 & table no.3. Table no.4 shows that supply of total cereals would be less than total demand in 2021 & 2026. In 2011, supply of cereals would be less than demand. But in case of pulses, edible oil & sugar there would be supply side shortage in food production. It clarifies urgency to increase production & decrease population in upcoming time.
Table No.5 Per cent annual growth rate of projected supply & demand:Food items Rice Wheat Total cereals Pulses Edible oil Sugar Demand 1.55 1.42 3.17 6.51 5.95 8.22 Supply 1.01 1.34 1.45 0.91 2.13 0.41
Note: 1. Growth rates are between base year & 2026 2. Demand scenario of GDP growth rate at 9% is considered Analysis: Table no.5 shows the annual growth in per cent of projected demand & supply for all selected food items. It shows that demand growth in per cent is more than supply growth in per cent which means there would be shortage of food items in future. Table No: 6 Population projection used in projecting demand:Year Population projection (million) 2001 2011 2021 2026 1027.02 1178.90 1345.63 1414.00 Average annual rate of growth (per cent) 1.39 1.33 o.99
Source: 1. 2026 projections by Dyson & Hanchante, 2000.
2. Other year’s population figures are from Register General, GOI. Analysis: Table no.6 shows population projection used in demand estimation considering 2001 as a base year. This table shows increasing trend in population. To cater to the need of this increasing population we need to increase food production & try to curb population explosion.
Table No.7 Fourth Advance Estimates of Production of food grains for 2008-09Million tons) Fo od gra ins Kh arip 102 102 .44 .91 100 .70 105 .51 104 .29 209 .80 102 .09 94. 72 196 .81 112 .07 100 .78 212 .85 87. 22 87. 55 174 .77 117 .00 96. 19 213 .19 103 .31 95. 05 198 .36 109 .87 98. 73 208 .60 110 .57 106 .71 217 .28 230.67 109.71 120.96 120. 95 109. 83 230. 70 121 .54 111 .46 233 .00 233.88 116.18 117.70 Sea son 199 199 798 899 199 900 200 001 200 102 200 203 200 304 200 405 200 506 200 607 4th Final targ 4th adv.esti mates
adv.esti estim ets mates ates
Rab 90. bi Tot al 68
193 203 .12 .61
Source: 1. Agriculture Statistics Division 2. Directors Of Economics & Statistics 3. Department Of Agriculture & Cooperation Analysis: Table no.7 shows advance estimates of production of food grains for 2008-09. This table indicates the food production increased from 1997-98 to 2006-07, except 2000-01, 2002-03 & 2004-06 where food production went down a bit. Estimates for 2008-09 shows increase in food production. In spite of this still people are hungry & not getting enough food.
Table no:8 Net availability of food grains (per annum) in India from 1997 to 2001Kg. per capita per year) Years Rice rice Rice Wheat Other cereals cereals Gram Pulses Food grains
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
78.31 73.1 74.2 74.3 69.5 83.5 66.2 71.3 64.7 72.3 71.8
65.4 55.3 59.2 58.4 49.6 60.8 65.8 59.2 56.3 56.3 57.0
26.6 22.8 23.1 21.4 20.5 23.1 17.1 25.3 21.7 22.1 20.8
170.1 151.2 156.7 154.3 141.0 167.4 149.1 155.8 142.7 150.7 149.6
4.5 4.9 5.3 3.9 2.9 3.9 3.1 4.1 3.9 3.9 4.3
13.5 12.0 13.3 12.9 10.9 12.9 10.6 13.1 11.5 11.8 10.7
183.6 163.2 170.0 165.9 151.9 180.4 159.7 168.9 152.2 162.5 160.4
Notes :1 -The net availability of food grains is estimated to be Gross Production (-) seed, feed & wastage, (-) exports (+) imports, (+/-) change in stocks. 2 -The net availability of food grains divided by the population estimates for a particular year indicate per capita availability
of food grains in terms of kg/year. Net availability, thus worked out further divided by the number of days in a year I.e., 365 days gives us net availability of food grains in terms of grams / day. 3 -Figures in respect of per capita net availability given above are not strictly representative of actual
level of consumption in the country especially as they do not take in to account any change in stocks in possession of traders, producers And consumers.
4 -For calculation of per capita net availability the figures of net imports from 1981 to 1994 are based on imports and Exports on Government of India account only. Net imports from 1995 onwards are the total exports and imports (on Government as well as private accounts) 5 -Cereals includes rice, wheat and other cereals 6 -Pulses includes all khaki and rabi pulses 7 –Food grains includes rice, wheat, other cereals and all pulses
Analysis: Table no.8 shows net availability of food grains (per annum) in India from 1997 to 2001. Table no.8 shows net per capita per year availability of food grains (including cereals & pulses). From 1997 to 2001, there has been decline in per capita per year food grains availability- except 1999 where it increased. From 2002 it has showed alternate increase & decrease. Overall per capita per year food grains availability shows declining trend raising food insecurity alarms. Table No.9 Index Number of Whole sale Price:Food articles Total Weight base(1993-94)=100 Average of weeks(1993-94) 1994-95 1995-96 113 122 115 122 15.40 Food grains 5.01
1996-97 1997-98 1998-99 1999-00 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08
137 141 159 165 170 176 179 181 186 195 210 210.25
138 139 152 176 174 172 174 176 177 187 206 206.08
Source: Office of the Economic Advisor, Ministry Of The commerce & Industry (Provisional) Analysis: Table no.9 shows index no. of whole sale prices considering 1993-94 as a base year (= 100) which shows continuous increment in whole sale prices. It means inflation has increased over the period of time resulting in decreasing purchasing power. Table No.10 Minimum Support Price/ Procurement Price for Crops (crop year basis):-
Commodities
1990- 1999- 2000- 2001- 2002- SDR-pb 91 00 01 02 03 2002-03 -
2003- 2004- 2005- 2006- 200704 05 06 07 08 -
Paddy (proc. price) Common
-
205
490
510
530
530
20
550
560
600
580c
645h
Fine Superfine Grade-A Wheat (proc. price) Coarse cereals (jowar bajra tagi) Maze Barley Gram Arhar Moo
215 225 225
520 580
540 610
560 620
560 620
20 10
580 630
590 640
600 650g
610c 750h
675h 1000
180
415
445
485
485
(5,10,5b) 505
515
525
540
600
180 200 450 480 480
415 430 1015 1105 1105
445 560 1100 1200 1200
485 500 1200 1320 1320
485 500 1220 1320 1330
5 5 5 5 5
505 525 1400 1360 1370
525 540 1426 1390 1410
540 550 1435 1400 1520
540 565 1445 1410 1520
620 650 1600 1550d 1700d
Ng Urad 480 1105 56.1 1200 1200 59.5 1320 1300 1330 1320 5 5 1370 1500 73 1410 1525 74.5 1520 1535 79.5 1520 1545 1700d 1700
Masur(lentin) Sugar cane(stat. min.price) 23
62.05 69.5
80.25 81.15
Source: Department Of Agriculture & cooperation a. Up to 2004-05 MSP linked to a basic recovery. b. Additional SDR price announced in 2002-03. Jowar (5) bajra(10), ragi(5) c. Additional incentive bonus of Rs. 40 per quintal payable on procurement between Jan 10 2006 to march 2007. d. Bonus of Rs. 40 per quintal payable over & above MSP. g. An incentive bonus of Rs. 50 per quintal payable on wheat over MSP h. An incentive of payable over the MSP.
Note: Jowar -MSP: 2006-07-Rs.555 MSP: 2007-08-Rs.62
Analysis: Table no.10 shows minimum support price for crops. Table no.10 makes it clear that FCI has been procuring food grains at high prices as it shows continuous increment in MSP from 1990-91 to 2007-08. Increasing MSP, additional cost of transportation & handling incurred by FCI makes PDS food grains costly.
Table No. 11 India at a glance (key indicators)
overty & social India South Asia Lower middle income 2007 Population midyear (mill) GNI per capita(atlas method(US $) Average annual growth rate(2001-07) Population (%) Labor force (%) Most recent estimates latest year (2001-07) Urban population (% of total population) Life expectancy at birth(years) Infant mortality (per 1000 57 62 41 64 64 69 29 29 42 1.4 1.8 1.6 2.1 1.1 1.5 1123.3 950 1520 880 3473 1887
live birth) Children malnutrition(% of children under 5) Access to an improved water source(% of population) Literacy(% of population age 15 +) Gross primary enrollment(% 112 of school age population) Male Female 114 109 111 104 112 109 108 111 61 58 89 89 87 88 44 41 25
Source: Data compiled by World Bank. Analysis: Table no.11 gives quick glance at India for the year 2007. This table shows very grim picture indicating high population, low per capita income, high children malnutrition, low literacy & poor access to drinking water. It shows that small no. population (i.e. 29%) lives in urban while almost 71% population lives in rural areas. High infant mortality rate, average life expectancy seen in table is indicators of low standard of living. It shows that in economic & social figures we are bit ahead of South Asia but it also indicates that lower middle income countries are doing better than us.
Causes of poverty & malnourishment resulting into food insecurity:
1. Rapid increase in population over the years has created huge demand for food. Population growth has been faster than food production which leaves large number of people hungry. (15)
2. In India income level of people is very low. Around 70% people earn less than 20 Rs. a day. It means people have low purchasing power, which makes it difficult for them to buy enough nutritional food to cater to the physical need. (15)
3. Inflating prices reduces purchasing power of people which makes them unable to satisfy basic needs of life at a point of time. It includes access to enough food, sanitation, drinking water, primary health services etc. (16) 4. Unemployment which has aggravated recently is one of the reason of acute poverty. ( 16) 5. Illiteracy is one of the major causes of poverty. Better education denotes better standard of living as it increases employability. (17) 6.Climate change is one of the reasons behind global food crisis that occurred recently resulting in huge hunger deaths.IPC reports has indicated that global warming is affecting rain cycle which leads to decline in food production.( 14) 7. There has been decline in public investment in agriculture. In 2007-08 only 8.4% of total income was invested in agriculture. (18) 8. Investment in research & development in agriculture has been negligible in last 2 decade. (18) 9. Irrigation facilities are not yet reached to needy areas. Out of 145 million hector fertile land only 40 million hector lands has been brought under irrigation. (18) 10. Technological adoptions & applications are limited to big farmers & cash crops alone. (18)
11. Sharecropping & tenant system has pushed farmers into debt. Division of land is also one of the prime reasons behind farmer’s plight & reduced production. Almost 80% farmers cultivate in less than 2 acres. (2) 12. Monsoon dependency of agriculture is reducing food production. Around 66% of farming is dependent on monsoon. Truant monsoon & adverse climate has reduced agricultural yield (18).
The way ahead and food security in India
1. Redistribution of land should be undertaken acquired after the imposition ceiling of 10-12 acres among the small farmers.
2. Provision should be made for the security of the tenure of sharecroppers and temporary tenants. 3. The industrialization of rural India with labor intensive technology along with egalitarian distribution of land ownership can alleviate poverty in rural India. 4. Programs like IRDP, NREP, PMGY, NFFWP, SGRY, should be linked with agricultural infrastructural development work like water shades, canal, ponds etc. so it will improve agricultural production & it wouldn’t upset private farmers as NREGA like programs will no longer make labor costly. 5. Along with improvement in TPDS, focus should be on maternal health, safe drinking water, awareness regarding breast feeding etc. In case of vulnerable groups such as the aged, disabled & widows pensions are needed along with the TPDS. Whereas for urban destitute (migrants without ration cards, homeless, lunatic persons etc.) community kitchens should be made available to compliment TPDS. 6. To develop towns with population range of 10000-20000 as growth centers using local labor & available raw material a detailed district level planning is needed. Such a centre should take up investment in dairying & animal husbandry, poultry farming, fishing, forestry, small scale industries etc. In this context PURA program suggested by former president Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam needs to be implemented. 7. Small scale & cottage industries should be increased to encourage production of items of mass consumption so that employment potential of the economy is enlarged. 8. To provide a much greater quantum of grants for the school in the back word areas & for back word classes so that inequality of opportunity can be reduced. In built mechanism should be developed at each level so that a substantial proportion of seats are fixed for under privileged sections of society. The problems of drop outs with reference to under privileged classes should be analyzed & remedial actions.{1} 9. Public investment in agriculture should be increased. Agriculture should be made public service as education & health. Special sessions should be held in parliament for agriculture whereby in discussions should be arranged.{2} 10. Food grain bank should be established at village level to reduce transportation & handling cost so that it would bring down food grain prices.
11. Future trading should be allowed in food grains (future markets) to avoid fluctuations in food grain prices & distress selling by farmers. 12. Input subsidies in agriculture (especially fertilizers) should be replaced with infrastructure investment in agriculture. While direct subsidies to crops should be implemented.{3} 13. Food coupons for work should be issued in schemes like NREG to avoid malpractices. 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. {4} 14. Expenditure on primary health & hygiene should be increased to avoid epidemic death. NHRM launched in 2005 should be extended. Currently less than 10% population is under insurance cover. Still 95% population working in unorganized sector & most of them are not ensured.{5} 15. Regular & stringent check up upon hoarding & black marketing of food & other essential items should be undertaken.{6} 16. Agricultural universities should carry out R & D in agriculture & should try to develop new GM varieties yielding high. 17. Irrigation, low cost electricity & crop insurance should be given more focus.{7} 18. Provision for laws should be made to conserve fertile land. It should be ensured that other sector does not acquire fertile land for industrial activities. 19. Integrated management like INMS, IPM, ISM, IFM, and ICM should be given stress to improve agricultural production. 20. Improved communication systems through the use of information technology may help farmers get a better deal for their produce. grains, sugar
Rationale behind the recommendations
{1}According to World Bank’s economy at a glance & Public Opinion Survey, September 2009 around 35% of population is illiterate. {2}V.P. Singh Government had announced to invest 14.6% of GDP into agriculture in 1990 while in 2007-08 only 8.4% was invested.
{3}Almost 80% of price of fertilizers is paid by government through subsidies on other hand farmers get negligible amount through direct subsidy. {4}Recently few cases of corruption in NREG have been brought into light. {5}Current Expenditure on health is less than 1% of GDP & on education; it is less than 4% which is way bellow than any developed country. {6} Recent actions of raid under taken by Maharashtra Government to confiscate hoarded sugar & cases of illegal fertilizer export to Pakistan indicate institutional loop holes. {7}out of 145 million hector fertile land only 40 million hector fertile land is under irrigation & in majority of areas agriculture is still dependent on monsoon. Only 4% crops are insured while 57% farmers don’t even what crop insurance is.
Glossary:
1. UPA: United Progressive Alliances. 2. NFSB: National Food Security Bill. 3. GHI: Global Hunger Index. 4. FSRI: Food Security Risk Index. 5. BPL: Bellow Poverty Line. 6. APL: Above Poverty Line. 7. GOI: Government Of India. 8. PDS: Public Distribution System. 9. TPDS: Targeted Public Distribution System. 10. FCI: Food Corporation Of India. 11. MSP: Minimum Support Price. 12. SMP: Statutory Minimum Price.
13. IRDP: Integrated Rural Development Program. 14. NREP: National Rural Employment Program. 15. PMGY: Pradhan Mantri Gamin Yojna. 16. NFFWP: National Food for Work Program. 17. SGRY: Sampoorn Granin Rojgar Yojna. 18. NREGA: National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. 19. MDM: Mid Day Meal Scheme. 20. PURA: Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Area. 21. NRHM: National Rural Health Mission. 22. GM crops: Genetically Modified Crops. 23. INMB: Integrated Nutrition Management System. 24. IPM: Integrated Pest Management. 25. ISM: Integrated Seed Management 26. IFM: Integrated farming Management 27. ICM: Integrated Crop Management
References
1. National Family Survey Data. 2. Indian Economy – By- Ruddar Datta & P.M. Sunharam 3. International Food Policy Research Institute (Washington) 4. UN World Food Program. 5. Food Risk Index by- Maple Croft(business standard 13 September 2009) 6. Saxena Committee Report (Financial Express, July 2, 2009) 7. Arjun Singh Committee report.
8. Compiled from P. Sainath speech at Kolhapur. 9. Central Government’s affedeviate to Nagpur judiciary bench (Daily sakal September 2oo9. 10. Indian Financial Express (13 July 2009) 11. Indian Financial Express (august 2009) 12. Google posted article. 13. Monthly Public Opinion Survey (12 September 2009) 14. Kurukshetra (September 2009) 15. www.world bank.org 16. www.finmin.nic.in 17. Economic Survey 2007-08 18. The Analyst ( February 2009)
Bibliography
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Economic And political weekly july18,2009 Monthly public opinion surveys 10 July 2009 Economic And political weekly Feb14,2009 www.agreecrops.in www.indiabudget.com Official website of Ministry of agriculture Official website of Ministry of Consumer affairs and public distribution. Economic survey 2007-2008 Budget reports 2009-2010
doc_644141516.docx
“Food Security- Need, Challenges & Access in the context of poverty, nutrition”
Mr. SALIL A. TAMBOLI
ABSTRACT:
Of late the whole world experienced inflated food prices. Even India could not stay away from it. Decreasing food production in relative terms and increasing food prices has become matter of concern. In such a time, India is all set to introduce food security bill. Rising unemployment, increasing malnutrition, falling purchasing power demands proper access and availability of food to poor and less privileged. Poverty can be characterized by non availability clean drinking water, sanitation and primary health care. In country like India where 33% of world’s poor and 27% of world’s malnutrition resides, it becomes necessary to strengthen food security measures. Recently India has been ranked at 66th position on Global Hunger Index and at 25th position on Food Security Risk Index. This indicates urgency of taking concrete steps towards making nutritional food accessible to the large section of society which happens to be poor & undernourished. This paper tries to understand the true meaning of making a country food secured. It also puts light on lacunae in current system. To make India food secured Government has come up with program like Integrated Child Development Services, Mid Day Meal etc. Food Corporation of India has set up Public Distribution System to make food grains available to people which riddles with lot of flaws and malpractices. This paper suggests remedial measures to make India food secured & alleviate poverty by linking it with productive programs. Keywords: Food Security Bill, Global Hunger Index, Food security Index, Integrated Child Development Services, Mid Day Meal, Food Corporation of India, Public Distribution System.
INTRODUCTION:The budget speech which stated that UPA government was preparing a NFSB, which would assure 25 kg of food grains per month, at Rs.3/- kg. to every poor family. This statement once again fired the smoldering questions of poverty and nutrition. Most of the developing countries are facing problem of poverty and food security. India’s food security and nutrition indicators are among the worst in world .some of these indicators have barely improved in recent years. For instances, the proportion of underweight children was much the same in 1998-99 & 2005-06 (1) though India was successful in achieving self-sufficiency by increasing its food production, it could not solve the problem of chronic house hold food insecurity. In this context, an attempt will be made to explore the food security needs of India and the challenges associated with it. The main objectives of the report are? ? ? ? To assess the status of poverty population & nutrition in India. To know the causes of food insecurity & related problems such as poverty & malnutrition. To suggest remedial measures to tackle the problem of food insecurity. To indentify the flaws in current system lay down by Government to face the problem of growing hunger.
Literature Review
Poverty: “Poverty is defined as inability to attain minimum std. of living (World Bank 1990)” “Poverty is defined a social phenomena to full fill even its basic necessities of life.” Malnutrition: “Malnutrition can be defined as deficiency of nutrition & calories than recommended.” Food security: “World Development Report (1986) defined food security as access by all people to enough food for an active and healthy life” “Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO,1983) defined food security as ensuring that all people at all times have both physical and economic access to basic food they need.” From the above definition following points emerge: 1) Food security involves physical availability of the food to the entire population in a country. 2) People have enough purchasing power so that they can acquire the food they need. 3) For healthy life, the food available should be adequate in quantity as well as quality to meet the nutritional requirement. 4) A nation may acquire self sufficiency in food at a point of time, but the concept of food security necessities that timely, reliable and nutritionally adequate supply of food should be available on a long term basis. This implies that a nation has to ensure the growth rate in food supply so that it takes care of the increasing population (2)
The concept of food security is mostly conceived as making available minimum quantity of food to the entire population. In this sense concept is very narrow. But in a dynamic & developing economy this concept broadens. Food security implies ensuring freedom from
hunger, malnutrition & other deprivations associated with the lack of food. Viewed in this manner, it is obvious that food security would along with providing access to cheaper grains; have to create entitlements that guarantee good nutrition (including a balanced intake of calories, protein, fats & essential micro nutrients) & attention to child care, clean drinking water, hygiene, basic health care & so on. About Poverty Line: It refers to the minimum income, consumption or more generally access to goods & services bellow which individuals are considered to be poor. At present as per the GOI poverty line for the urban areas is Rs.296 per month income & Rs.276 per month for rural areas. That is people who earn less than Rs.10 per day are to be considered BPL. As per GOI this amount will buy food equivalent to 2200 calories per day, medically enough to prevent death. But survival on Rs.10 a day is a nightmare in such a inflation riddled era. CHALLENGES:? India stands at 66th rank out of 88 countries in GHI (3) ? India has highest no of malnutrition people i.e. 230 millions & 1.5 million children are at the risk of becoming malnutrition (4) ? 27% of world’s undernourished population lives in India (4) ? 43% children out of entire malnutrition population is underweight ranging between 0-3 age group (4) ? global average of having underweight children is 2.5% and that of sub Saharan Africa is 28% (4) ? 50% of child death happen due to malnutrition.(4) ? India stands at 25th position in FSRI , Bangladesh & Pakistan stands at 20th & 11th position respectively (5) ? 49.1% of poorest slab posses BPL/antoday card (6) ? 17.4% of richest slab posses BPL/antoday card (6) ? 23% of poor didn’t even have ration cards (7) ? 27.5% of Indian population is BPL (7)
? 50% of Indian population is just above BPL (7) ? In 1950, when food grain production growth rate was 7.2%, population growth rate was 3.56%. while from 1995 till the date food grain production growth rate has been 1.2% & population growth rate has been around 1.8% (8) ? 39% of kerosene don’t reach to the intended poor through PDS (9) ? Identifying poor is very big problem in India if we consider 2400 calories daily requirement for rural India & 2100 calories daily requirement for urban areas 84% of rural population & 64% of urban population would be BPL which in average make 50% of Indian population BPL If we considers, monthly expenditure it is estimated that to buy 1973 calories food grain one needs to spend Rs360 in rural areas and Rs560 in urban areas but as per the GOI poverty line for urban area is Rs. 296 per month & for rural area is Rs. 296 per month & global standard demand 1200 calories per day. But by above statement majority of people would be BPL. (10)
? Because of flaws in PDS majority of people remain deprived of government aides and
scheme. Ministry of consumers affairs and food distribution has issued 22.3 crores ration cards while there are 20 crores households. 8 crores BPL cards have been issued while there are only 6.5 crore BPL households. Apart from this many a time categorization between APL & BPL is imperfect. A number of deserving poor have been excluded from BPL fold. (11) ? The FCI procures food grains from farmers at government announced SMP. SMP & off take are at not balanced. However under continuous pressure from powerful farmers lobby the government has been raising MSP & now it has become more than what market offers to farmers. Also quality norms are not observed strictly. Poor farmers lack easy access to FCI. To reduce the fiscal deficit, the government has sought to curtail the food subsidy bill by raising the issue price of food grains and linking it to the economic cost at which the FCI supplies food grains to the PDS. The economic cost comprises the cost of procurement, that is, MSP, storage, transportation and administration and is high mainly because of the artificially inflated MSP and also due to the operational inefficiencies of the FCI. This has pushed the issue price to APL category higher than the market rates and
to BPL category beyond their purchasing power, resulting in plummeting of off take from the PDS. (12) ? Recent kharip season was upsetting as it experienced draught, which discouraged farmers from sowing paddy. Government pinned its hope on pulses in particularly rabbi crop as alternative to make up the massive shortfalls in paddy sowing. In September government announced 15% hike in MSP of pulses & 11% hike in MSP of paddy.(13) ? Till 1st June, 2009 central pool had managed to procure 331.22 lakh tone stock of wheat & 204.03 lack tone of rice. On the other hand it is estimated that TPDS needs 446 lakh ton food grains annually & other welfare schemes needs 50 lakh ton food grains. In spite of this still large number of people are hungry. It indicates flaws in institution.(14)
DATA ANALYSIS &INTERPRETATON:TABLE NO: 1 Net availability, procurement & public distribution of food grains:-
Sources : 1 Year 2.Net production of grains 3.Net imports 4. Net availability of food grains 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 168.2 178.2 183.6 172.2 186.2 152.9 186.5 173.6 182.5 190.1 -2.5 -1.3 -1.4 -2.9 -6.7 -5.5 -6.5 -6.0 -2.3 -4.7 159.6 169.4 168.3 156.9 189.5 170.6 183.3 170.0 181.9 183.7 26.3 30.8 35.6 42.6 40.3 34.5 41.1 Na Na Na 18.6 17.7 13.0 13.2 18.1 22.5 Na Na Na Na -1.6 -0.8 -0.8 -1.8 -3.5 -2.8 Na Na Na Na 15.6 17.3 19.4 24.5 21.7 22.6 Na Na Na Na 11.1 9.9 7.7 8.4 9.6 13.2 Na Na Na Na 5. Procurement 6. Public distribution 7. Col.3 as % of col.4 8. Col 5.as % of col. 2 9. Col 6 as % of col4
1. Department of Food and Public Distribution. 2. Directorate of Economics & Statistics, Department of Agriculture & Cooperation.
P Provisional
a) Net availability = Net production +Net imports - changes in Government stocks. b) Includes quantities released under the Food for Work Program during the year 1978 to 1990.
Notes: 1. Production figures relate to agricultural year: 1951 figures correspond to 1950-51 and so on. Figures for procurement and public distribution relate to calendar years. 2. Net Imports from 1981 to 1994 are only on Government account and from 1995 onwards the Net Imports are total Imports and Export of the Country.
Analysis: Table no.1 shows net availability, procurement & public distribution of food grains. In year 1998-1999 net availability of grains including net import showed up word trend. It increased from 159.6 in 1998 to 169.4 in 1999. Again it reached its peak i.e. to 189.5 which is the highest figure in selected time span. Afterwards it showed averagely increasing trend till 2007. As on other hand procurement trend increased from 1998 to 200. Afterwards it showed decline till 2003.Comparision of procurement & net availability shows that very small quantity is procured. Comparison of public distribution & procurement too doesn’t give satisfactory results. Very less quantity is distributed than what is procured. Column 8 & 9 shows that very less quantity is procured & distributed out of entire net availability. It signifies need of strengthening PDS. So that everyone gets access to food.
TABLE NO.2 Projected annual per capita domestic demand for selected food items
Unit: kg/annum)Food items
Scenario 1 2011 2021 72.0 59.6 180.4 2026 72.3 48.9 193.4
Scenario 2 2011 80.1 50.0 159.9 2021 71.9 47.8 182.2 2026 72.2 46.6 196.0
Rice Wheat Total cereals Pulses Edible oil Sugar
80.2 51.0 159.3
19.5 13.3 22.6
28.8 19.8 40.9
36.1 25.0 57.4
20.4 14.2 24.9
31.6 22.4 48.8
40.8 28.9 71.2
Note: Scenario 1: GDP is 8% per annum Scenario 2: GDP is 9% per annum
Analysis: Table no.2 shows projected per capita demand for food items which is based on the two scenarios. In both scenarios estimated demand for food grains, sugar, pulses & oil shows increasing trend. It indicates that demand for food would keep on increasing which shows need of taking concrete steps to ensure food security.
Table No. 3 Projected domestic supply of selected food items in India:-
Food items
Base year 200304
Supply projection (unit: million metric tons) 2011 95.7 80.2 209.7 16.1 10.1(29.9) 25.0(245.0) 2021 105.8 91.6 242.2 17.6 12.5(36.9) 26.0(255.2) 2026 111.2 97.9 260.2 18.4 13.9(41.1) 26.6(260.5)
Rice Wheat Total cereals Pulses Edible oil Sugar
88.3 72.1 186.9 14.9 8.6(25.3) 24.2(237.1)
Note: 1. Area & yield growth rate for the period 1994 - 95 to 2004- 05 on the base period triennium ending 1993-94 are used for agriculture statistics at a glance, 2007, Directors of economics & statistics ,GOI. 2. 10.2% is conversion of sugarcane to sugar & 33.9% is the average conversion factor of edible oil seed to edible oil. Figures in the parenthesis are the supply projections for oil seed & sugarcane in respective columns.
Analysis: Table no.3 shows projected per capita supply of food items using 2003-04 as a base year. Though in absolute terms supply shows increasing trend, it has to be viewed in relative terms as well, using demand supply gap analysis.
Table no.4 Supply- demand gap for selected food units
Unit: million metric tons) Food items Gap (demand- supply)2011 Rice Wheat Total cereals Pulses Edible oil Sugar 1.26 22.1 21.9 -8.05 -6.66 -4.31
2021 8.98 27.33 -2.94 -24.92 -17..68 -39.67
2026 9.13 32.04 -16.97 -39.31 -26.99 -74.13
Note: 10.2% is conversion factor of sugar cane to sugar % 33.9% is the average conversion factor of edible oil seed to edible oil. Demand scenario of GDP growth rate at 9% is considered here. Analysis: Table no.4 shows demand supply gap for selected food items based on demand & supply projections used by us in table no.2 & table no.3. Table no.4 shows that supply of total cereals would be less than total demand in 2021 & 2026. In 2011, supply of cereals would be less than demand. But in case of pulses, edible oil & sugar there would be supply side shortage in food production. It clarifies urgency to increase production & decrease population in upcoming time.
Table No.5 Per cent annual growth rate of projected supply & demand:Food items Rice Wheat Total cereals Pulses Edible oil Sugar Demand 1.55 1.42 3.17 6.51 5.95 8.22 Supply 1.01 1.34 1.45 0.91 2.13 0.41
Note: 1. Growth rates are between base year & 2026 2. Demand scenario of GDP growth rate at 9% is considered Analysis: Table no.5 shows the annual growth in per cent of projected demand & supply for all selected food items. It shows that demand growth in per cent is more than supply growth in per cent which means there would be shortage of food items in future. Table No: 6 Population projection used in projecting demand:Year Population projection (million) 2001 2011 2021 2026 1027.02 1178.90 1345.63 1414.00 Average annual rate of growth (per cent) 1.39 1.33 o.99
Source: 1. 2026 projections by Dyson & Hanchante, 2000.
2. Other year’s population figures are from Register General, GOI. Analysis: Table no.6 shows population projection used in demand estimation considering 2001 as a base year. This table shows increasing trend in population. To cater to the need of this increasing population we need to increase food production & try to curb population explosion.
Table No.7 Fourth Advance Estimates of Production of food grains for 2008-09
Million tons) Fo od gra ins Kh arip 102 102 .44 .91 100 .70 105 .51 104 .29 209 .80 102 .09 94. 72 196 .81 112 .07 100 .78 212 .85 87. 22 87. 55 174 .77 117 .00 96. 19 213 .19 103 .31 95. 05 198 .36 109 .87 98. 73 208 .60 110 .57 106 .71 217 .28 230.67 109.71 120.96 120. 95 109. 83 230. 70 121 .54 111 .46 233 .00 233.88 116.18 117.70 Sea son 199 199 798 899 199 900 200 001 200 102 200 203 200 304 200 405 200 506 200 607 4th Final targ 4th adv.esti matesadv.esti estim ets mates ates
Rab 90. bi Tot al 68
193 203 .12 .61
Source: 1. Agriculture Statistics Division 2. Directors Of Economics & Statistics 3. Department Of Agriculture & Cooperation Analysis: Table no.7 shows advance estimates of production of food grains for 2008-09. This table indicates the food production increased from 1997-98 to 2006-07, except 2000-01, 2002-03 & 2004-06 where food production went down a bit. Estimates for 2008-09 shows increase in food production. In spite of this still people are hungry & not getting enough food.
Table no:8 Net availability of food grains (per annum) in India from 1997 to 2001
Kg. per capita per year) Years Rice rice Rice Wheat Other cereals cereals Gram Pulses Food grains1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
78.31 73.1 74.2 74.3 69.5 83.5 66.2 71.3 64.7 72.3 71.8
65.4 55.3 59.2 58.4 49.6 60.8 65.8 59.2 56.3 56.3 57.0
26.6 22.8 23.1 21.4 20.5 23.1 17.1 25.3 21.7 22.1 20.8
170.1 151.2 156.7 154.3 141.0 167.4 149.1 155.8 142.7 150.7 149.6
4.5 4.9 5.3 3.9 2.9 3.9 3.1 4.1 3.9 3.9 4.3
13.5 12.0 13.3 12.9 10.9 12.9 10.6 13.1 11.5 11.8 10.7
183.6 163.2 170.0 165.9 151.9 180.4 159.7 168.9 152.2 162.5 160.4
Notes :1 -The net availability of food grains is estimated to be Gross Production (-) seed, feed & wastage, (-) exports (+) imports, (+/-) change in stocks. 2 -The net availability of food grains divided by the population estimates for a particular year indicate per capita availability
of food grains in terms of kg/year. Net availability, thus worked out further divided by the number of days in a year I.e., 365 days gives us net availability of food grains in terms of grams / day. 3 -Figures in respect of per capita net availability given above are not strictly representative of actual
level of consumption in the country especially as they do not take in to account any change in stocks in possession of traders, producers And consumers.
4 -For calculation of per capita net availability the figures of net imports from 1981 to 1994 are based on imports and Exports on Government of India account only. Net imports from 1995 onwards are the total exports and imports (on Government as well as private accounts) 5 -Cereals includes rice, wheat and other cereals 6 -Pulses includes all khaki and rabi pulses 7 –Food grains includes rice, wheat, other cereals and all pulses
Analysis: Table no.8 shows net availability of food grains (per annum) in India from 1997 to 2001. Table no.8 shows net per capita per year availability of food grains (including cereals & pulses). From 1997 to 2001, there has been decline in per capita per year food grains availability- except 1999 where it increased. From 2002 it has showed alternate increase & decrease. Overall per capita per year food grains availability shows declining trend raising food insecurity alarms. Table No.9 Index Number of Whole sale Price:Food articles Total Weight base(1993-94)=100 Average of weeks(1993-94) 1994-95 1995-96 113 122 115 122 15.40 Food grains 5.01
1996-97 1997-98 1998-99 1999-00 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08
137 141 159 165 170 176 179 181 186 195 210 210.25
138 139 152 176 174 172 174 176 177 187 206 206.08
Source: Office of the Economic Advisor, Ministry Of The commerce & Industry (Provisional) Analysis: Table no.9 shows index no. of whole sale prices considering 1993-94 as a base year (= 100) which shows continuous increment in whole sale prices. It means inflation has increased over the period of time resulting in decreasing purchasing power. Table No.10 Minimum Support Price/ Procurement Price for Crops (crop year basis):-
Commodities
1990- 1999- 2000- 2001- 2002- SDR-pb 91 00 01 02 03 2002-03 -
2003- 2004- 2005- 2006- 200704 05 06 07 08 -
Paddy (proc. price) Common
-
205
490
510
530
530
20
550
560
600
580c
645h
Fine Superfine Grade-A Wheat (proc. price) Coarse cereals (jowar bajra tagi) Maze Barley Gram Arhar Moo
215 225 225
520 580
540 610
560 620
560 620
20 10
580 630
590 640
600 650g
610c 750h
675h 1000
180
415
445
485
485
(5,10,5b) 505
515
525
540
600
180 200 450 480 480
415 430 1015 1105 1105
445 560 1100 1200 1200
485 500 1200 1320 1320
485 500 1220 1320 1330
5 5 5 5 5
505 525 1400 1360 1370
525 540 1426 1390 1410
540 550 1435 1400 1520
540 565 1445 1410 1520
620 650 1600 1550d 1700d
Ng Urad 480 1105 56.1 1200 1200 59.5 1320 1300 1330 1320 5 5 1370 1500 73 1410 1525 74.5 1520 1535 79.5 1520 1545 1700d 1700
Masur(lentin) Sugar cane(stat. min.price) 23
62.05 69.5
80.25 81.15
Source: Department Of Agriculture & cooperation a. Up to 2004-05 MSP linked to a basic recovery. b. Additional SDR price announced in 2002-03. Jowar (5) bajra(10), ragi(5) c. Additional incentive bonus of Rs. 40 per quintal payable on procurement between Jan 10 2006 to march 2007. d. Bonus of Rs. 40 per quintal payable over & above MSP. g. An incentive bonus of Rs. 50 per quintal payable on wheat over MSP h. An incentive of payable over the MSP.
Note: Jowar -MSP: 2006-07-Rs.555 MSP: 2007-08-Rs.62
Analysis: Table no.10 shows minimum support price for crops. Table no.10 makes it clear that FCI has been procuring food grains at high prices as it shows continuous increment in MSP from 1990-91 to 2007-08. Increasing MSP, additional cost of transportation & handling incurred by FCI makes PDS food grains costly.
Table No. 11 India at a glance (key indicators)
overty & social India South Asia Lower middle income 2007 Population midyear (mill) GNI per capita(atlas method(US $) Average annual growth rate(2001-07) Population (%) Labor force (%) Most recent estimates latest year (2001-07) Urban population (% of total population) Life expectancy at birth(years) Infant mortality (per 1000 57 62 41 64 64 69 29 29 42 1.4 1.8 1.6 2.1 1.1 1.5 1123.3 950 1520 880 3473 1887live birth) Children malnutrition(% of children under 5) Access to an improved water source(% of population) Literacy(% of population age 15 +) Gross primary enrollment(% 112 of school age population) Male Female 114 109 111 104 112 109 108 111 61 58 89 89 87 88 44 41 25
Source: Data compiled by World Bank. Analysis: Table no.11 gives quick glance at India for the year 2007. This table shows very grim picture indicating high population, low per capita income, high children malnutrition, low literacy & poor access to drinking water. It shows that small no. population (i.e. 29%) lives in urban while almost 71% population lives in rural areas. High infant mortality rate, average life expectancy seen in table is indicators of low standard of living. It shows that in economic & social figures we are bit ahead of South Asia but it also indicates that lower middle income countries are doing better than us.
Causes of poverty & malnourishment resulting into food insecurity:
1. Rapid increase in population over the years has created huge demand for food. Population growth has been faster than food production which leaves large number of people hungry. (15)
2. In India income level of people is very low. Around 70% people earn less than 20 Rs. a day. It means people have low purchasing power, which makes it difficult for them to buy enough nutritional food to cater to the physical need. (15)
3. Inflating prices reduces purchasing power of people which makes them unable to satisfy basic needs of life at a point of time. It includes access to enough food, sanitation, drinking water, primary health services etc. (16) 4. Unemployment which has aggravated recently is one of the reason of acute poverty. ( 16) 5. Illiteracy is one of the major causes of poverty. Better education denotes better standard of living as it increases employability. (17) 6.Climate change is one of the reasons behind global food crisis that occurred recently resulting in huge hunger deaths.IPC reports has indicated that global warming is affecting rain cycle which leads to decline in food production.( 14) 7. There has been decline in public investment in agriculture. In 2007-08 only 8.4% of total income was invested in agriculture. (18) 8. Investment in research & development in agriculture has been negligible in last 2 decade. (18) 9. Irrigation facilities are not yet reached to needy areas. Out of 145 million hector fertile land only 40 million hector lands has been brought under irrigation. (18) 10. Technological adoptions & applications are limited to big farmers & cash crops alone. (18)
11. Sharecropping & tenant system has pushed farmers into debt. Division of land is also one of the prime reasons behind farmer’s plight & reduced production. Almost 80% farmers cultivate in less than 2 acres. (2) 12. Monsoon dependency of agriculture is reducing food production. Around 66% of farming is dependent on monsoon. Truant monsoon & adverse climate has reduced agricultural yield (18).
The way ahead and food security in India
1. Redistribution of land should be undertaken acquired after the imposition ceiling of 10-12 acres among the small farmers.
2. Provision should be made for the security of the tenure of sharecroppers and temporary tenants. 3. The industrialization of rural India with labor intensive technology along with egalitarian distribution of land ownership can alleviate poverty in rural India. 4. Programs like IRDP, NREP, PMGY, NFFWP, SGRY, should be linked with agricultural infrastructural development work like water shades, canal, ponds etc. so it will improve agricultural production & it wouldn’t upset private farmers as NREGA like programs will no longer make labor costly. 5. Along with improvement in TPDS, focus should be on maternal health, safe drinking water, awareness regarding breast feeding etc. In case of vulnerable groups such as the aged, disabled & widows pensions are needed along with the TPDS. Whereas for urban destitute (migrants without ration cards, homeless, lunatic persons etc.) community kitchens should be made available to compliment TPDS. 6. To develop towns with population range of 10000-20000 as growth centers using local labor & available raw material a detailed district level planning is needed. Such a centre should take up investment in dairying & animal husbandry, poultry farming, fishing, forestry, small scale industries etc. In this context PURA program suggested by former president Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam needs to be implemented. 7. Small scale & cottage industries should be increased to encourage production of items of mass consumption so that employment potential of the economy is enlarged. 8. To provide a much greater quantum of grants for the school in the back word areas & for back word classes so that inequality of opportunity can be reduced. In built mechanism should be developed at each level so that a substantial proportion of seats are fixed for under privileged sections of society. The problems of drop outs with reference to under privileged classes should be analyzed & remedial actions.{1} 9. Public investment in agriculture should be increased. Agriculture should be made public service as education & health. Special sessions should be held in parliament for agriculture whereby in discussions should be arranged.{2} 10. Food grain bank should be established at village level to reduce transportation & handling cost so that it would bring down food grain prices.
11. Future trading should be allowed in food grains (future markets) to avoid fluctuations in food grain prices & distress selling by farmers. 12. Input subsidies in agriculture (especially fertilizers) should be replaced with infrastructure investment in agriculture. While direct subsidies to crops should be implemented.{3} 13. Food coupons for work should be issued in schemes like NREG to avoid malpractices. 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. {4} 14. Expenditure on primary health & hygiene should be increased to avoid epidemic death. NHRM launched in 2005 should be extended. Currently less than 10% population is under insurance cover. Still 95% population working in unorganized sector & most of them are not ensured.{5} 15. Regular & stringent check up upon hoarding & black marketing of food & other essential items should be undertaken.{6} 16. Agricultural universities should carry out R & D in agriculture & should try to develop new GM varieties yielding high. 17. Irrigation, low cost electricity & crop insurance should be given more focus.{7} 18. Provision for laws should be made to conserve fertile land. It should be ensured that other sector does not acquire fertile land for industrial activities. 19. Integrated management like INMS, IPM, ISM, IFM, and ICM should be given stress to improve agricultural production. 20. Improved communication systems through the use of information technology may help farmers get a better deal for their produce. grains, sugar
Rationale behind the recommendations
{1}According to World Bank’s economy at a glance & Public Opinion Survey, September 2009 around 35% of population is illiterate. {2}V.P. Singh Government had announced to invest 14.6% of GDP into agriculture in 1990 while in 2007-08 only 8.4% was invested.
{3}Almost 80% of price of fertilizers is paid by government through subsidies on other hand farmers get negligible amount through direct subsidy. {4}Recently few cases of corruption in NREG have been brought into light. {5}Current Expenditure on health is less than 1% of GDP & on education; it is less than 4% which is way bellow than any developed country. {6} Recent actions of raid under taken by Maharashtra Government to confiscate hoarded sugar & cases of illegal fertilizer export to Pakistan indicate institutional loop holes. {7}out of 145 million hector fertile land only 40 million hector fertile land is under irrigation & in majority of areas agriculture is still dependent on monsoon. Only 4% crops are insured while 57% farmers don’t even what crop insurance is.
Glossary:
1. UPA: United Progressive Alliances. 2. NFSB: National Food Security Bill. 3. GHI: Global Hunger Index. 4. FSRI: Food Security Risk Index. 5. BPL: Bellow Poverty Line. 6. APL: Above Poverty Line. 7. GOI: Government Of India. 8. PDS: Public Distribution System. 9. TPDS: Targeted Public Distribution System. 10. FCI: Food Corporation Of India. 11. MSP: Minimum Support Price. 12. SMP: Statutory Minimum Price.
13. IRDP: Integrated Rural Development Program. 14. NREP: National Rural Employment Program. 15. PMGY: Pradhan Mantri Gamin Yojna. 16. NFFWP: National Food for Work Program. 17. SGRY: Sampoorn Granin Rojgar Yojna. 18. NREGA: National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. 19. MDM: Mid Day Meal Scheme. 20. PURA: Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Area. 21. NRHM: National Rural Health Mission. 22. GM crops: Genetically Modified Crops. 23. INMB: Integrated Nutrition Management System. 24. IPM: Integrated Pest Management. 25. ISM: Integrated Seed Management 26. IFM: Integrated farming Management 27. ICM: Integrated Crop Management
References
1. National Family Survey Data. 2. Indian Economy – By- Ruddar Datta & P.M. Sunharam 3. International Food Policy Research Institute (Washington) 4. UN World Food Program. 5. Food Risk Index by- Maple Croft(business standard 13 September 2009) 6. Saxena Committee Report (Financial Express, July 2, 2009) 7. Arjun Singh Committee report.
8. Compiled from P. Sainath speech at Kolhapur. 9. Central Government’s affedeviate to Nagpur judiciary bench (Daily sakal September 2oo9. 10. Indian Financial Express (13 July 2009) 11. Indian Financial Express (august 2009) 12. Google posted article. 13. Monthly Public Opinion Survey (12 September 2009) 14. Kurukshetra (September 2009) 15. www.world bank.org 16. www.finmin.nic.in 17. Economic Survey 2007-08 18. The Analyst ( February 2009)
Bibliography
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Economic And political weekly july18,2009 Monthly public opinion surveys 10 July 2009 Economic And political weekly Feb14,2009 www.agreecrops.in www.indiabudget.com Official website of Ministry of agriculture Official website of Ministry of Consumer affairs and public distribution. Economic survey 2007-2008 Budget reports 2009-2010
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