Securing Food for all

 Food is the basic need which drives the whole mankind. Every activity done on this earth is to fulfill the hunger of the individuals. India with its vast area under cultivation has been striving to feed its billion plus population. First with its break through in Green revolution and now with its focus on legal entitlement legislations. Securing food for all needs state interventions at various stages like production, procurement, storage and distribution.

At the production stage, the various govt. interventions are:

Rural credit: Farmers were given credit (upto 3.5 lakh crores this budget) to supplement their input costs on buying agri machinery, seeds, fertilizers (Nutrient Based Subsidy scheme). They were given 2% interest subvention on repayment of loans. The crop insurance scheme in the event of failure has neutralised the erratic monsoon conditions.But the recent farmer debts and suicides in vidarbha and other semi arid regions can be attributed to the extortions from local money lenders and crop failures due to lack of irrigation.

Land reforms - Though these were supposed to be helping the small and marginal farmers, it actually turned against them. With land ceiling laws, rich farmers could manipulate the sizes and threaten the landless labourers. But in states like west bengal, these reforms showed positive results with poor farmers getting their share of land.

Research activities - ICAR has done a commendable job in providing information related to various seeds, technologies, different farming techniques. Farmers can now avail such information through Kisan Call Centres (KCC). With ISRO's intervention through recently launched Resourcesat 2 in mapping the cropping areas and to be launched Megha Tropiques to monitor weather conditions for monsoons, farmers will be in a better position to predict the crop seasons. In contrast, the introduction of hybrid varieties have not augered well with the farmers, who recommend organic farming.

Even with such ups and downs, the production of grains for the year 2010-11 has crossed the estimated target of 225 MT of which 90 MT approx. each is rice and wheat.

At the procurement stage, the govt. is buying the grains at a particular Minimum Support Price (MSP). But according to the Alag committee and Swaminathan committee reports, the MSP for 12 major crops has always been less than the production costs. A nation whose 60 % population  is dependent on agriculture cannot be so callous in its attitude towards remunerating its farmers. These committees have recommended that the MSP must be announced before the sowing season and it should be production costs + 50 % so that farmer gets a considerable income to lead his life comfortably.  

Storage has been an area of concern recently with excess of food grains produced. Govt. is contemplating of bringing in FDI in multi brand retail to solve this problem. Recent govt. decision to export some of the food grains because of lack of storage facilities only speaks of its lack of fore sightedness. This is a problem which needs a modest local solution by investing in building more storage houses rather than resorting to FDI. The Narendra modi committee on food security recommended branching the FCI into 3 parts namely procurement, storage and distribution to make the job easier.

With 225 MT of production, India is comfortably poised to universalise its food security program, but the NAC recommendations and subsequent Rangarajan panel's comments on it speak otherwise. Distribution stage is the most important component of the whole chain as it is not enough to make available the food grains, but they should be accessible by the needy.

Refering to the recent famine in the Horn of Africa, UN defined Famine as that where at least 20 per cent of households face extreme food shortages with limited ability to cope, acute malnutrition in over 30 per cent of people, and two deaths per 10,000 people every day. Comparing these statistics with those of India, there is 17% of extreme food shortage, around 40% are under nourished and around 0.25 people die per 10000 per day. Thus India is almost at the brink of being declared as a Famine hit nation.

The NAC recommended that 75% of rural and 50% of urban poor would be covered under the food security bill. They will be categorised into priority and general groups. Each priority individual will be entitled to 7 kg of grains per month at Rs 2 per kg. It also speaks of mid day meals, child nutrition levels etc. They also recommended that in case govt. couldnt provide grains to the poor, they can avail direct cash transfers instead. But the recent survey by a group of institutes revealed the fact that people wanted grains and not money.

With amateur calculations, it could be easily found out that for 1200 million population and with total grains of 180 MT, the total availability per capita is 150 kg / person/ year. i.e each person can get around 12kgs of rice / wheat per month. 

Thus, universalisation of food security is not impractical as envisaged by the eminent economists and policy makers of this country.

Thus, it is the distribution mechanism which needs to be strengthened. There are two main mechanisms in this structural reforms which needs attention.

1. Pricing mechanism

2. Delivery mechanism

Pricing refers to the cost of the grains to be given to the people. As the proverb goes, 'There are no free lunches...' people must be made to pay some amount for the grains they are getting instead of giving it free of cost (to avoid misuse). But who will pay how much is a point of contention. It will bring BPL lines into picture which are again faulty. Total subsidisation or total marketisation would not be useful. Instead a middle path must be followed. Present BPL card holders should continue to get benefitted with their cards. Govt. must look out for new entrants from APL group and make necessary provisions. A constant upgradation of the records is a must. UID could be of immense help in this activity.

Delivery refers to the amount of foodgrains to be given at a time to the people. If a person is given all the 12kgs at a time, he /she might not have that much storage facility with them or they might misuse it. So, daily disbursals can be a solution. Men might sell these grains for liquor, so women can be given the entitlement for the household. A strong grievance redressal mechanism must be in place to check any leakages. Community participation in this mechanism is a tested and best option. Quality of grains is also a matter of importance. Therefore more no.of godowns in an area where people dont have storage facility and a good maintainance of them is a must.  

Emulating the Brazil example, India can also integrate various related schemes and these schemes will act as checks and balances on one another. For example, Food security, Education, Health can be linked. Thus, periodic health check ups by authorities will give a clear picture about the improvements in nutrition levels in the area where PDS is working. Enrollment of children of the household in the nearby schools can be made mandatory for the family to avail there share of food grains.

Thus, with increasing global prices and unstable economies in the world, self reliance is the best option to feed our people. With a proper policy in place and timely intervention, it is possible to make India self reliant in securing food for all its citizens.