Food Security in India - Essay Example

Running Head: FOOD SECURITY IN INDIA Before embarking on the specifics of the study, it is of importance if the expression ‘food security’ is defined. According to the World Health Organisation, in its 1996 World food summit, ‘food security’ as an expression means a situation where everyone in entirety has at all times access to safe, sufficient and nutritious food so as to maintain a healthy kind of life and also which is active. Therefore, there are three pillars of food security; availability of food consistently, accessibility to food and usage of food, which refers to the application of food nutrients available. (who.int, 2009) By defining the issue at hand, it will be easier to handle it in a comprehensive and detailed manner. The study is going to expound on this issue and will consider the case of India more specifically. It going to look at Problems, situation and response in the order in which it is presented. Problems Despite the desirable growth rates in the economy of India, food security has not yet shown signs of an upsurge. This has left the economy with a good deal of chaos especially in the rural areas, in accordance with the WFP (World Food Programme) report as well as the research conducted by MSSRF (MS Swaminathan Research Foundation). The research of food insecurity was set up in February of 2009 to monitor and give an analysis on the same. The ones in charge of the research were the ‘State of Food Insecurity in Rural India’ and the researches were introduced in numerous states in India. It also served in looking into the nutrition safety issues. The report cites that the state of undernourishment is escalating, which has a negative impact on the positive progress, witnessed in the last ten years of the 20th century. More particularly the rural economy is seen to be highly affected by the declining levels of production of food, the escalating unemployment rates as well as the falling purchasing power amongst the poor. These combined, have weakened the rural economy to a great extent. (southasia.oneworld.net, 2009) Agriculture in India is characterised by numerous crops and amongst them, the most outstanding are wheat, rice, millet. Most of these crops are grown in considerably hot conditions. As per the climates of year 2007 the Indian temperatures would just surpass the 40 degrees Celsius point. Therefore, more warming would have some impact on the crops. A survey conducted to determine the effects of warming on these crops in India showed that in spite of rice being fertilised with Carbon dioxide, further warming exceeding 2 degrees Celsius was likely to reduce the rice yields in India. Of all the studies performed, there was only a single one where the yields were observed to rise. Statistical analysis as per this book by Lobell and Burke show that the Indian crops are highly sensitive to warming. These estimates are that by year 2030, most of the important crops are to experience yield drops. This effect, together with the fact that India has the biggest population of people who are undernourished in the globe, the issue of food security in India looks especially very vulnerable to changes in the climatic conditions. A study by Ricardo showed that net revenues from farms in India had an inverse relationship to warming. In the year 1998, there was a fall of 12% in revenue with 2 degrees Celsius warming rate as well as an increase of rainfall by 7%. The main observation here, therefore, is that regardless of whether it is a time series model or even a panel method, the ultimate impact of warming is adverse to majority of crops. (Lobell and Burke, 2009 p184) Situation A maplecroft which is London-based which serves in providing risk advisory services ranked India among the ‘high risk’ with regard to food security. The ranking saw India attain a position 25 out of the listed 148 nations. This was due to the prospected growing population and the unsustainable usage of water. This FSRI (Food Security Risk Index) operates its business by measuring the access, availability and stability of the stocks of food. To make the analysis more accurate, the research by FSRI involved the application of 19 of the main indicators. These were as follows: exports, imports, cereals production, per capita rate of undernourishment, production of food per capita, GDP per capita, water resources for agriculture as well as the world aid shipments, among others. Though India has been rated among the global key emerging nations economically, it is under very immense pressure concerning the issues of food security. According to the study, 2/3 of the economy’s population, of approximately 1.1 billion, depends upon the agriculture as the prime source of income. However, only 79% of the land was under cultivation as per August of 2009 using August 2008 as the base period. The reason to the cited decline in land under cultivation was due to the reduced availability of water as national resource for the purposes of agriculture, uneven monsoon and deforestation. This led top high rates of droughts and flooding all over the nation. The resultant fall in food yield may be seen to impact the economy by increasing the levels of inflation and further straining the large chunks of the majority population. (business-standard.com, 2009) Response To curb the negative effects of food insecurity in India, the government has come up with various solutions. Amongst these solutions are the various bills to be or that have been presented in parliament (For instance, that of 2010). This bill was proposed by the members of Congress in the manifesto for elections in 2009. This bill was debated in 2010. The questions the bill sought to answer were alongside others, ‘What is the food security Bill?’, ‘What is the implication of the Bill on the finance system?’ and ‘What are the challenges expected in implementing the Bill?’ The answers provided were as follows; to the first question, the answer provided was as is going to be shown in the paragraph. There was the realisation that food inflation was a gigantic problem in the nation. This was seen to reduce the amount of disposable income. Those living below the U.N’s poverty line as per the 2010 estimates were 410 million Indians, living below 1.25 USD per day. To prevent the poor against the negative effects of the high inflation levels, the congress guaranteed cheap grains like wheat and rice in the bill. On to the second question, the answer provided was as follows; that India was already providing cheap pulses and the grains to approximately 180 million low-income families. This, the government enhanced through a public system of distribution which would cost 12billion USD in the year 2010 up to March of 2011. This would account for about 1% of the economy’s GDP and on the other hand 5% of the government expenditure. Despite the fact that these estimates are not official, the main factual thing is that it would add to the government’s subsidy burden. The third question was answered as per this paragraph. The then public distribution system was seen by many as inefficient. Corruption was envisaged as the major obstacle where food that was meant for the poor people was diverted to business retailers. Thus, most of the population has fears that the scheme by the government to ensure food security would not reach the intended poor. Also, many kilograms of the grain would lead to wastage due to the lack of facilities for storage and inadequacy in the chains of supply. The main challenge was the uncertainty in the economy’s output which was highly rain-reliant. (Mukherjee and Neogy, 2010) The government of India, while unveiling its yearly budget, pledged to cut down its deficit while at the same time increasing the rates of social expenditure. The aim of the budget was to balance the fiscal discipline and populism. In the recent past, one of the major factors putting ample pressure on the Congress party (the ruling party) of India was the huge rates of food inflation. This has even led to street protests and a discouragement to the foreign investors. India’s poor, according to the budget, were especially the hardest hit by the escalating food cost, which were seen to have been caused by rising demand and the inadequacy of the distribution and storage systems. The budget also raised the levels of social expenditure by about 17% as compared to the previous year, to approximately 35.6 billion USD. This would translate to 36.4% of the government expenditure. The presenter of the budget also promised to introduce a bill on food security in the fiscal year 2011/2012. This, according to him would lead to cheaper grain to the majority of the impoverished population while at the same instance increasing the positive effects of the increasing subsidy outlays. This budget would also see growth in agriculture encouraged by the introduction of incentives. However, it was seen not to fully solve this problem of investment in the agricultural sector. This is since it was observed to be short of opening up the retail sector of the economy of India. This is to attract bigger rates of foreign investment into the sector. Foreign investment is seen to be the only way by most analysts to attract money for the purpose of expansion on the supply chain of food in the economy. (al.com, 2011) Reference: al.com. (2011). India to cut deficit, improve food security. Retrieved March 1 2011 http://www.al.com/newsflash/index.ssf/story/india-to-cut-deficit-improve-food- security/a1b543e66722445db131567d8dff336d business-standard.com. (2009). High Food Security Risk in India: Global Agency. Retrieved March 1 2011 http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/high-food-security-risk-in- india-global-agency/72911/on Lobell,D and Burke, M. (2009). Climate Change and Food Security: Adapting Agriculture to a Warmer World. Springer. Edition Illustrated. P184. Mukherjee, K and Neogy,A. (2010). Implications of Indias Proposed Food Security Law. Retrieved March 1 2011 http://in.reuters.com/article/2010/07/21/idINIndia-50259720100721?pageNumber=2 Singh, M. (2009). Food Security In India Leaves Much To Be Desired. Retrieved March 1 2011 http://southasia.oneworld.net/todaysheadlines/food-security-in-india-leaves- much- to-be-desired who.int. (2009). Food Security. Retrieved March 1 2011 http://www.who.int/trade/glossary/story028/en/ Read More