India consists of 100 million hardworking farmers who do not have surpluses and requires government direction and support to produce enough food with the available land to meet the demands of 1,100 millions. Indian food security needs to be understood in terms of food availability across the country, regional differences in production, and accessibility of food by the poor and hungry people in regard to the existing distribution system and buying capacity. And why is India still a recipient of food assistance when it has already achieved optimum production? We should stop asking for food assistance from international donors and strengthen our distribution system with an emphasis on more employment generation schemes in rural areas.
The continuing rise in food prices is a matter of great concern and the problem is a real one. During the past nine months, food prices have risen by 50%, threatening global stability. Various international organizations, such as The World Bank, International Monetary Fund, United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, have warned that rising food prices threaten to wipe out a decade of efforts to achieve global food security. Social unrest could spread in sub-Saharan African countries where 50 to 60% of household income is spent on food.
The causes are plenty, such as droughts, push to use biofuels made from corn to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, increased demand for meat and dairy products from richer Asian countries, and so on. These explanations highlight the external causes but totally ignore the causes rooted in the policies that have led to stagnation of agricultural sectors. Hunger is caused not by high international food prices, but by local conditions, especially rural poverty linked to agricultural productivity. |
