Food Security

A country affected with a natural calamity faces serious food security issues. However, if the government takes the following steps, it can recover at a quicker pace:

1. A country’s economy must be producing food for the nation as a whole.

2. The government must take out its stock of food grains for the consumption of the people.

3. The government can import foodgrains from other countries to increase availability.

4. The total amount of food grains available would be the production of food grains during that year plus net imports minus change in stock with the government.

5. This stock is released and maintained by the government through FCI. FCI release buffer stock according to the needs and availability of food grains.

6. The food grain can be sold to people at a subsidized price. This is the universal public distribution system.

If the government undertakes the above steps in a careful, well thought out manner, the country can have adequate availability of food grains throughout the year for its citizens.

1. Nutritionists have stated a close relationship between underweight and access to food.

2. The problem of underweight is caused by illness and food intolerance.

3. The National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad conducted a survey across many states in India and had given out shocking results.

4. A recent survey among 7000 children in the age- group 1-5 years, shows that 45% of them are underweight. These children are hungry and not getting adequate food. This makes 50% of the children in this country to be malnourished.

5. When the children are malnourished for a long time, it affects their health. Such as, it might stunt their height and weaker bones.

6. About 80% of people in rural areas consume food that is below the calorie standard. The major reason behind this low-calorie intake is the lack of purchasing power of the people.

7. People also lack awareness about the nutritional values of the foods. Even families who have a decent income are not feeding their children properly.

There is a close relationship between food production and food security. This can be explained by the following points:

1. Food security requires that abundant, yet sufficient quantity of food is produced within a specific year.

2. To increase food production, adequate methods of farming must be employed.

3. This includes the use of high-quality seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides, etc. Adequate irrigation techniques must be used as well.

4. This also involves using a proper crop producing method such as crop rotation and multiple cropping. Also, using techniques such as a drought-resistant variety of seeds or any seeds according to the climatic conditions of that area.

5. Soil and other resources must be properly used and made sure, that they are not depleted or damaged.

6. The Indian government introduced an Act in 2012, called the National Food Security Act. According to this Act, every person from a low-income family is entitled to receive 5kg of foodgrains per month at subsidized rates.

7. Other activities such as poultry and fishing must also be focused upon. The consumers, nowadays prefer a balanced diet, so it is helpful for ensuring food security.

8. The government must take out its stock of food grains for the consumption of the people. It can also import foodgrains from other countries to increase availability.

9. The total amount of food grains available would be the production of food grains during that year plus net imports minus change in stock with the government.

So, the government can employ all these steps to ensure food security through food production. However, this must be incorporated in a well-thought manner so as to balance between the food crops and nonfood crops.

Public distribution system is a government-sponsored chain of shops. They distribute basic food and non-food goods to the needy sections of the society at a very low price. Public Distribution System can definitely ensure better food security for people. The arguments in support of this statement are:

1. It is the responsibility of the government to ensure food is supplied to the people at all times.

2. PDS can ensure food security by procuring food at proper intervals and using an adequate distribution method.

3. PDS ensures that BPL-Below poverty lines families re provided with foods at low prices.

4. Ration shops are also important, especially in Southern India, to provide food to the needy.

Public Distribution system was established to ensure food security in the country. Both the Union and State Government have the responsibility of regulating this system. The union government is responsible for procuring, transporting and allocating the food grains. The state government, on the other hand, are responsible for distributing these food grains to the consumers through ration shops. They are also held accountable for identification of below poverty line families but and monitoring the function of these systems. In India, there are many such shops through which food is made available to the needy sections of the society at a very low rate.

The southern parts of the country have shown a good record in distributing food through this system. They have followed the Universal Public Distribution system stating that food grains would be available to everyone at a very low cost. On the other hand, there are other states where this system has not worked efficiently. There are many problems of these systems which are faced all over the country. Some of these are mentioned below:

1. Consumers often complain about receiving the inferior quality of food grains.

2. The shopkeepers in such cases replace the food grains received from the Food Corporation of India and with lower quality food grains and sell the original goods received in the black market.
3. These shopkeepers indulge into such activities due to the low salary received by them.

4. The identification of families living below the poverty line is also another problem faced by the country.

5. Unsatisfactory regional allocation of food grains.

6. High level of corruption that exist within this Public Distribution system

Certain steps can be taken by the government of India to ensure the effective functioning of these systems:

1. FCI should check the quality of food grains for distribution at the lower level as well.

2. Proper methods should be employed to identify the BPL families in the country.

3. The shopkeepers should display a chart of the food grains and the quantity available in front of the shops. These charts should also display the prices of the same.

4. Frequent checks should be conducted to eliminate any kind of corruption within this system.

If the above steps are properly and effectively implemented, the country can ensure proper distribution of foodgrains among the lower sections of the society.