Food security | Geography Optional for UPSC (Notes) PDF Download

Introduction

Food security, as defined by the United Nations' Committee on World Food Security, refers to the consistent and reliable access of all individuals to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food, which meets their dietary preferences and needs for an active and healthy life. There are three key components of food security: food availability, food access, and food utilization.

• Food availability: This refers to the consistent availability of sufficient quantities of food, considering factors such as local production, stock levels, and the ability to import food from other regions through trade or aid.
• Food access: This involves individuals having the means to acquire adequate amounts of food regularly, which can be achieved through purchasing, home production, bartering, gifts, borrowing, or food aid.
• Food utilization: This aspect focuses on the nutritional impact of consumed food, taking into account factors like cooking, storage, hygiene practices, individual health, water and sanitation, and the allocation of food within households.

Food security is closely associated with household resources, disposable income, and socioeconomic status. It is also connected to various other factors, including food prices, global environmental changes, water, energy, and agricultural growth.
The importance of food security for a nation stems from the following reasons:

• Strengthening the agricultural sector: Ensuring food security can boost agricultural production and contribute to a nation's overall economic growth.
• Controlling food prices: By maintaining a stable and secure food supply, nations can better manage fluctuations in food prices.
• Promoting economic growth and job creation: Ensuring food security can lead to increased employment opportunities, ultimately helping to reduce poverty.
• Enhancing trade opportunities: Food security enables nations to participate in international trade, fostering economic development.
• Supporting global security and stability: A secure food supply can contribute to reducing conflicts and promoting overall global stability.
• Improving health and healthcare: Access to nutritious food is essential for maintaining good health, which in turn reduces the burden on healthcare systems.

Food Security in India

• Food security has been a concern in India since the Bengal Famine in 1943, during British colonial rule, when around 2-3 million people died of starvation. After gaining independence, India experienced an initial rush to industrialize, neglecting agriculture, which led to two consecutive droughts in the mid-1960s and a reliance on food aid from the United States. This revealed India's vulnerability to food security shocks.
• To address these issues, India underwent a Green Revolution in the late 1960s and early 1970s, which increased food grain production and helped overcome productivity stagnation. However, the Green Revolution focused mainly on wheat and rice, benefiting only a few resource-rich regions in the country and causing ecological stress on soil and water. Following the Green Revolution was the White Revolution, which transformed liquid milk production and marketing in India, making it the largest producer of milk.
• More recently, India has seen significant progress in hybrid maize for poultry and industrial use, as well as Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) cotton production, leading to large cotton exports and making India the second-largest cotton exporter in 2007-2008.
• Despite these achievements, India still faces several food security challenges. The country has the largest number of undernourished people in the world (around 195 million), and nearly 47 million children in India do not reach their full potential due to chronic undernutrition or stunting. Agricultural productivity in India remains low, with cereal yields at 2,992 kg per hectare compared to 7,318.4 kg per hectare in North America.
• As incomes in India continue to rise, the composition of the food basket is shifting away from cereals to high-value agricultural commodities such as fish, eggs, milk, and meat, increasing the indirect demand for food from feed. According to the FAO, 14.8% of the Indian population is undernourished, 51.4% of women of reproductive age (15-49 years) are anemic, and 38.4% of children under five are stunted, while 21% suffer from wasting.
• India was ranked 76th out of 113 countries in the 2018 Global Food Security Index, based on affordability, availability, and quality and safety. Additionally, the country ranked 103rd out of 119 qualifying countries in the 2018 Global Hunger Index.

Challenges to Food Security

• Climate Change: Climate change, with its rising temperatures and erratic rainfall patterns, poses significant challenges to agriculture, including crop production, livestock, forestry, fisheries, and aquaculture. This can lead to severe social and economic consequences, such as reduced incomes, damaged livelihoods, disrupted trade, and negative health impacts.
• Limited Access to Remote Areas: Tribal communities living in remote and difficult terrains often practice subsistence farming, leading to economic backwardness and increased food insecurity.
• Rural-to-Urban Migration: The growing migration from rural to urban areas leads to a large informal workforce, resulting in the unplanned expansion of slums. These areas often lack basic health and hygiene facilities, adequate housing, and face increased food insecurity.
• Overpopulation, Poverty, and Inequality: Factors such as overpopulation, poverty, lack of education, and gender inequality contribute to food insecurity.
• Inefficient Distribution Systems: Public distribution mechanisms, such as the Public Distribution System (PDS), are often inadequate in ensuring food security.
• Flawed Beneficiary Identification: Deserving beneficiaries may be excluded from receiving subsidies due to inconsistent criteria for identifying below poverty line (BPL) households, which vary from state to state.
• Biofuels: The growth of the biofuel market has led to a decrease in land used for growing food crops, contributing to food insecurity.
• Conflict: Food can be weaponized, with adversaries cutting off food supplies to gain an advantage. Crops may also be destroyed during conflicts, further exacerbating food insecurity.
• Poorly Implemented Nutrition Programs: Although numerous nutrition-focused programs have been planned in the country, their implementation is often lacking, leading to continued food insecurity.
• Incoherent Policies and Coordination: The absence of coherent food and nutrition policies, as well as a lack of intersectoral coordination between various ministries, contributes to food insecurity.
• Corruption: Corruption in the food distribution system, such as diverting grains to the open market for higher profits, selling poor quality grains at ration shops, and irregular shop opening hours, adds to the challenges of ensuring food security.

Recent Government Initiatives
The Indian government has implemented several initiatives in recent years to improve food security and agriculture within the country. These include:

1. National Food Security Mission: Launched in 2007, this Centrally Sponsored Scheme aims to increase the production of rice, wheat, pulses, coarse cereals, and commercial crops by expanding the areas under cultivation and enhancing productivity. It also focuses on restoring soil fertility and productivity at the individual farm level, improving farm-level economy, and increasing the availability of vegetable oils to reduce edible oil imports.
2. Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY): Initiated in 2007, this program allows states to choose their own agriculture and allied sector development activities as per their district/state agriculture plans. Converted into a Centrally Sponsored Scheme in 2014-15 with 100% central assistance, it has been renamed as Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana- Remunerative Approaches for Agriculture and Allied Sector Rejuvenation (RKVY-RAFTAAR) for three years (2017-18 to 2019-20). Its objectives include making farming a profitable economic activity by strengthening farmer efforts, risk mitigation, and promoting agribusiness entrepreneurship, with a focus on pre- and post-harvest infrastructure, agri-entrepreneurship, and innovations.
3. Integrated Schemes on Oilseeds, Pulses, Palm oil, and Maize (ISOPOM): This program focuses on the production and cultivation of oilseeds, pulses, palm oil, and maize.
4. Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana: This initiative aims to provide insurance coverage and financial support to farmers in the event of crop failures due to natural calamities, pests, and diseases.
5. eNational Agriculture Market (eNAM): The government has established an electronic national agriculture market to connect all regulated wholesale produce markets through a pan-India trading portal.
6. Irrigation and Soil and Water Harvesting Program: This massive program aims to increase India's gross irrigated area from 90 million hectares to 103 million hectares by 2017.
7. Nutrition and Food Security Programs: The government has introduced various measures to combat undernutrition and malnutrition, such as mid-day meals in schools, anganwadi systems to provide rations to pregnant and lactating mothers, and subsidized grain for those living below the poverty line through a public distribution system. Additionally, the National Food Security Act (NFSA) 2013 legally entitles up to 75% of the rural population and 50% of the urban population to receive subsidized food grains under the Targeted Public Distribution System, with the eldest woman of the household (aged 18 or above) being designated as the head of the household for issuing ration cards.

International Organizations involved in ensuring Food Security

1. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) - FAO, a specialized agency of the United Nations, was established in 1945 with the primary objective of eliminating hunger, food insecurity, and malnutrition globally. They work to improve agricultural productivity and promote sustainable farming practices.
2. World Food Programme (WFP) - Founded in 1963, the WFP is the leading UN agency responsible for responding to food emergencies and implementing programs to combat hunger worldwide. They provide food assistance in times of crisis and work to improve nutrition and food security in communities.
3. International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) - Established in 1977, IFAD is a specialized UN agency that focuses on reducing rural poverty by working with poor rural populations in developing countries. Their aim is to eradicate poverty, hunger, and malnutrition through agricultural development and support for small-scale farmers.
4. World Bank - Since its founding in 1944, the World Bank has been actively involved in financing food security projects and programs around the world. They provide financial and technical assistance to help countries implement policies and initiatives aimed at improving food security and agricultural development.
5. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) - UNEP, established in 1972, serves as the international authority on environmental issues, providing guidance and governance on a wide range of topics. Among these, UNEP addresses food security by promoting sustainable agriculture and advocating for policies that protect natural resources and ecosystem services critical to food production.

International Initiatives
The High-Level Task Force (HLTF) on Global Food and Nutrition Security was created in 2008 by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Its purpose is to encourage a comprehensive and unified response from the international community to address the challenge of achieving global food and nutrition security. One of its initiatives was the formulation of the First Millennium Development Goal (MDG 1), which aimed to reduce the proportion of people suffering from hunger by half by 2015.
In 2012, the UN Secretary-General launched the Zero Hunger Challenge during the Rio+20 World Conference on Sustainable Development. This initiative sought to inspire a global movement towards eradicating hunger within a generation. The Zero Hunger Challenge set several targets, including:

• No stunted children under the age of two
• 100% access to adequate food all year round
• Sustainable food systems
• A 100% increase in smallholder productivity and income
• No food loss or waste

Additionally, the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 aims to end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture.

Steps to be Taken to Ensure Food Security
To ensure food security, governments must adopt a comprehensive policy framework aimed at increasing agricultural productivity. This can be achieved by focusing on the rational distribution of cultivable land, improving farm sizes, providing security for tenant farmers, and offering farmers access to advanced cultivation technology and better inputs, such as irrigation facilities, high-quality seeds, fertilizers, and affordable credit.

• Alternative farming methods, such as aeroponics and hydroponics, allow plants to grow without soil and can be employed in areas with poor soil quality or soil erosion. Additionally, adopting crops and techniques with lower water requirements, like the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), can increase resilience by providing equal or better yields with less water usage.
• Crop diversification, including the cultivation of non-cereal crops like oilseeds, fruits, and vegetables, can lead to higher profitability and stability in production. Furthermore, improved food storage strategies should be implemented to minimize waste and ensure food availability.
• Utilizing bodies of water through the Blue Revolution can provide additional sources of food and nutrition, as fish are a rich source of protein that does not require fertile soil. Biotechnology and appropriate technology, such as selective breeding or genetic modification of plants and animals, can produce crops and livestock with specific desirable traits, increasing food production efficiency.
• Existing direct nutrition programs should be revamped to involve women's Self Help Groups (SHGs) and local bodies, along with training community health workers, local government members, caregivers, and other stakeholders. Health departments and authorities should work together to efficiently manage and supervise nutrition-related schemes.
• Regular surveys and assessments can be used to measure program outcomes and inform policy adjustments. Special attention should be given to workers in the informal sector by providing fair wages and healthy working conditions.
• Educating local communities on family health and nutrition practices using participatory and planned communication methodologies can be beneficial in promoting food security. Cooperatives, particularly in India, should be encouraged, as they play a significant role in providing affordable goods to the poor.
• Lastly, fostering rural-urban economic linkages can help ensure food security by enhancing and diversifying rural employment opportunities, particularly for women and youth; enabling the poor to better manage risks through social protection; and leveraging remittances for investments in the rural sector as a viable means for improving livelihoods.

Conclusion

In conclusion, food security is a critical issue that affects the health, well-being, and economic stability of nations, particularly in developing countries like India. Addressing food security requires a multifaceted approach, including increasing agricultural productivity, adopting alternative farming methods, promoting crop diversification, improving food storage, and implementing effective nutrition programs. Collaborative efforts between governments, international organizations, and local communities are essential to ensure that all individuals have consistent and reliable access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) of Food security

What are the three key components of food security?

The three key components of food security are food availability, food access, and food utilization. Food availability refers to the consistent availability of sufficient quantities of food, while food access involves individuals having the means to acquire adequate amounts of food regularly. Food utilization focuses on the nutritional impact of consumed food, considering factors like cooking, storage, hygiene practices, and individual health.

Why is food security important for a nation?

Food security is important for a nation as it strengthens the agricultural sector, controls food prices, promotes economic growth and job creation, enhances trade opportunities, supports global security and stability, and improves health and healthcare.

What challenges does India face in ensuring food security?

India faces several challenges in ensuring food security, including climate change, limited access to remote areas, rural-to-urban migration, overpopulation, poverty, inequality, inefficient distribution systems, flawed beneficiary identification, biofuels, conflict, poorly implemented nutrition programs, incoherent policies and coordination, and corruption.

What are some recent government initiatives in India to improve food security?

Some recent government initiatives in India to improve food security include the National Food Security Mission, Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), Integrated Schemes on Oilseeds, Pulses, Palm oil, and Maize (ISOPOM), Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, eNational Agriculture Market (eNAM), Irrigation and Soil and Water Harvesting Program, and various Nutrition and Food Security Programs.

What steps can be taken to ensure food security?

To ensure food security, governments must adopt a comprehensive policy framework aimed at increasing agricultural productivity, promoting alternative farming methods, encouraging crop diversification, improving food storage strategies, utilizing bodies of water through the Blue Revolution, adopting biotechnology and appropriate technology, revamping existing direct nutrition programs, conducting regular surveys and assessments, educating local communities on family health and nutrition practices, encouraging cooperatives, and fostering rural-urban economic linkages.