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Resource centre on India's rural distress
 
 

Miles to go for achieving food security

Those who compare India with China on equal basis, could be left with egg on their face if the new Global Food Policy Report 2014-15 is to be read and believed. The recent report from International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) shows why India is still faring much worse as compared to its neighbours including China, in the areas of agriculture and food security.

In 2012, China spent close to 9.5 percent of its entire public expenditure on agriculture, while the share of agriculture in total public expenditure in India was just 6.5 percent.

During 2012, India's per capita agricultural expenditure (in 2005 constant US dollars terms) was US$ 10.98 whereas the same for China was almost seven times higher i.e. US$ 73.82. In the same year, Chinese public agricultural expenditure (in 2005 constant US dollars terms) was a huge US$ 103.94 billion, which was nearly 8 times higher than what India spent on agriculture i.e. US$ 13.41 billion.

Prepared by a team of international experts under the leadership of Shenggen Fan, the report informs us that agricultural research spending as a share of agricultural GDP was 0.5 percent in China during 2008 whereas the same was 0.4 percent in India during 2009. China (US$ 2970.7 million) spent nearly double in 2008 as compared to what India (US$ 1092.8 million) spent in 2009 on agricultural research (in 2011 US$ terms).

Given the dearth of investment and expenditure as compared to what is required, most agricultural outcomes exhibit lacklustre performance in our country, finds the report.

Although agricultural output grew at the same rate (i.e. 3.5 percent) annually in both China and India during 2007-2012, average annual growth in total factor productivity (TFP) in China (3.1 percent) exceeded the same in India (2.0 percent). As per the IFPRI report, TFP is the ratio between total output (crop and livestock products) to total production inputs (land, labor, capital, and materials). An increase in TFP implies that more output is being produced from a constant amount of resources used in the production process.

The IFPRI report says that land productivity in Indian agriculture i.e. agricultural gross production (measured in constant 2004-2006 US dollars) per hectare of agricultural land was US$ 1346/hectare in 2012, which was lower than that in Bangladesh (US$ 2006/hectare), Myanmar (US$ 1700/hectare) and Nepal (US$ 1392/hectare).

Labour productivity in Indian agriculture i.e. agricultural gross production (measured in constant 2004-2006 US dollars) per economically active person in agriculture stood at US$ 878/person in 2012, which was lower as compared to China (US$ 2038/person) and Myanmar (US$ 1133/person).

The IFPRI report says that out of the 805.3 million undernourished population in the world, close to 190.7 million lives in India (23.7 percent), whereas 150.8 million lives in China (18.7 percent).

Open defecation is a major stumbling block for elimination of child undernutrition, says the report.

Key findings of the Global Food Policy Report 2014-15 are as follows:

• There are 570 million farms in the world. Approximately three-quarters of the world’s farms are located in Asia, and 60 percent of these can be found in just two countries: China and India.

• Evidence from India, Kenya, and Zambia indicate that national reserves can be effective for stabilizing prices over time.

• In India, wholesale prices of fruits and vegetables were 23 percent higher in 2013–2014 than in 2012–2013.

• China and India, which are experiencing rapid growth, face a heavier burden of hunger and undernutrition while Brazil and Mexico also face a heavy trend of rising overweight and obesity.

• Micronutrient deficiencies cost India up to 3 percent of its annual GDP.

• In countries like Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, and Mexico, despite the progress that has been made in reducing the number of those chronically hungry, there remains a potential threat to sustained, inclusive growth. Close to half of the world’s hungry, or 363 million people, live in these five countries.

• India has made significant strides in boosting its nutritional outcomes. The proportion of the undernourished population declined from 21.5 percent in 2004–2006 to 17 percent in 2011–2013. Similarly, the prevalence of underweight in children under five years of age also decreased from 43.5 percent in 2004–2005 to 30.7 percent in 2011–2013.

• India is a country where half of all children are stunted, and is also a country which is home to half of the world’s population of the one billion people worldwide who, according to UNICEF-World Health Organization (WHO) statistics, defecate in the open. India has, therefore, made the rapid elimination of open defecation a policy priority.

• While open defecation has declined only very slowly in India, other countries have experienced faster improvements in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), which has sometimes contributed to improvements in child nutrition.

• New research suggests that the longstanding puzzle of the “Asian enigma”—that children in India are shorter, on average, than much poorer children in Africa south of the Sahara—can be entirely statistically accounted for by the much greater density of open defecation to which children are exposed in India.

• Because 60 percent of the people worldwide who defecate in the open live in India, it is perhaps the context where understanding the effect of sanitation on nutrition would be most relevant. A recent survey of rural households in five north Indian states highlights a deep-seated, socially embedded aversion to latrine use. Many people in rural north India believe that open defecation is part of a wholesome rural way of life. Perhaps more important, latrine use is discouraged by social notions of purity and pollution.

• India’s 2013 National Food Security Act, which calls for providing highly subsidized food grains to two-thirds of the country’s population, was fully implemented by 5 of India’s 29 states and partly implemented by 6 other states. The question remains how to manage the program better and target it more closely to the neediest people in order to reduce the overall cost and ensure that it promotes good nutrition. India also adopted a scheme to help the country’s poor open 75 million bank accounts; although the accounts would start with a zero balance, they represent a first step in increasing poor people’s participation in the financial system.


References:

Global Food Policy Report 2014-15, IFPRI 

Global Hunger Index 2014: The Challenge of Hidden Hunger, prepared by International Food Policy Research Institute, Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide
 
The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2014: Strengthening the enabling environment for food security and nutrition, FAO, IFAD and WFP
 
How not to treat agriculture -Jayati Ghosh, Frontline, 3 April, 2015 

Maneka joins opposition in asking finance minister to reve
rse budget cut for child scheme -Deeptiman Tiwary, The Times of India, 21 March, 2015 
 
Image Courtesy: Himanshu Joshi