analyse the reason for food security India
Answers
Answered by
16
Abstract
First Millennium Development Goal states the target of “Halving hunger by 2015”. Sadly, the recent statistics for India present a very gloomy picture. India currently has the largest number of undernourished people in the world and this is in spite of the fact that it has made substantial progress in health determinants over the past decades and ranks second worldwide in farm output. The causes of existing food insecurity can be better viewed under three concepts namely the: ‘traditional concept’ which includes factors such as unavailability of food and poor purchasing capacity; ‘socio-demographic concept’ which includes illiteracy, unemployment, overcrowding, poor environmental conditions and gender bias; ‘politico-developmental concept’ comprising of factors such as lack of intersectoral coordination and political will, poorly monitored nutritional programmes and inadequate public food distribution system. If the Millennium Development Goal is to be achieved by 2015, efforts to improve food and nutrition security have to increase considerably. Priority has to be assigned to agriculture and rural development along with promoting women empowerment, ensuring sustainable employment and improving environmental conditions (water, sanitation and hygiene). As the problem is multi-factorial, so the solution needs to be multi-sectoral.
Keywords: Food security, Challenges, India
Go to:
Introduction
Food insecurity per se, exists when all people, at all times, do not have physical and economic access to the sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life (Food and Agriculture Organisation, FAO, 1996) (1). Food insecurity can lead to lower cognitive ability, diminished work performance and substantial productivity losses. All of these can hamper the growth and development of national economy. India has made substantial progress in health determinants over the past decades. The critical indicators of health, including Infant Mortality Rate, maternal mortality ratio, disease prevalence, and morbidity as well as mortality rates have shown consistent decline over the years. India’s life expectancy has improved and infant mortality, nearly halved in the last fifty years (2). There has been an impressive economic progress with achievements in the domain of agriculture contributing significantly. India ranks second worldwide in farm output. Agriculture and allied sectors like forestry, logging and fishing accounted for 18.6% of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2005 and employed 60% of the total workforce (3). However, the problem of chronic hunger and malnutrition seems to prevail on a large scale. India currently has the largest number of undernourished people in the world i.e. 212 million. The total number of undernourished people was 172.4 million in 1990–92 which rose to 237.7 million in 2005–07 i.e. nearly 38% increase in undernourished people (4,5).
Go to:
Reasons for the existing food insecurity in India
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). Lac
First Millennium Development Goal states the target of “Halving hunger by 2015”. Sadly, the recent statistics for India present a very gloomy picture. India currently has the largest number of undernourished people in the world and this is in spite of the fact that it has made substantial progress in health determinants over the past decades and ranks second worldwide in farm output. The causes of existing food insecurity can be better viewed under three concepts namely the: ‘traditional concept’ which includes factors such as unavailability of food and poor purchasing capacity; ‘socio-demographic concept’ which includes illiteracy, unemployment, overcrowding, poor environmental conditions and gender bias; ‘politico-developmental concept’ comprising of factors such as lack of intersectoral coordination and political will, poorly monitored nutritional programmes and inadequate public food distribution system. If the Millennium Development Goal is to be achieved by 2015, efforts to improve food and nutrition security have to increase considerably. Priority has to be assigned to agriculture and rural development along with promoting women empowerment, ensuring sustainable employment and improving environmental conditions (water, sanitation and hygiene). As the problem is multi-factorial, so the solution needs to be multi-sectoral.
Keywords: Food security, Challenges, India
Go to:
Introduction
Food insecurity per se, exists when all people, at all times, do not have physical and economic access to the sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life (Food and Agriculture Organisation, FAO, 1996) (1). Food insecurity can lead to lower cognitive ability, diminished work performance and substantial productivity losses. All of these can hamper the growth and development of national economy. India has made substantial progress in health determinants over the past decades. The critical indicators of health, including Infant Mortality Rate, maternal mortality ratio, disease prevalence, and morbidity as well as mortality rates have shown consistent decline over the years. India’s life expectancy has improved and infant mortality, nearly halved in the last fifty years (2). There has been an impressive economic progress with achievements in the domain of agriculture contributing significantly. India ranks second worldwide in farm output. Agriculture and allied sectors like forestry, logging and fishing accounted for 18.6% of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2005 and employed 60% of the total workforce (3). However, the problem of chronic hunger and malnutrition seems to prevail on a large scale. India currently has the largest number of undernourished people in the world i.e. 212 million. The total number of undernourished people was 172.4 million in 1990–92 which rose to 237.7 million in 2005–07 i.e. nearly 38% increase in undernourished people (4,5).
Go to:
Reasons for the existing food insecurity in India
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). Lac
Answered by
33
Food security is needed to assure that each person of a nation has admittance to reliable and healthful food at all periods of the year. During a typical disaster, the prices of food increase due to the curtailment of food. Food security guarantees that food grains are assigned at affordable rates to the affected people so that they do not perish. Moreover, access to nutritious food is basic to human existence. Reliable passage to food can contribute to wide-ranging dynamic consequences, including Commercial growth and job conception.
Similar questions