Paradoxical deprivation

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations has published, on December 12, its report titled ‘Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2023: Statistics and Trends’, wherein it is highlighted that in 2021, 74.1 per cent of India’s population couldn’t afford a healthy diet. Though this number showed a small improvement from 76.2 per cent in 2020, the figure suggests that nearly three-quarters of Indians struggled to buy nutritionally adequate food. Meanwhile, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka fared slightly better, with 66.1 per cent and 55.5 per cent citizens of the respective countries facing similar challenges in 2021. The report warned that rising food costs, if not matched by rising income, would lead to more people unable to afford a healthy diet. Incidentally, within 72 hours of the release of the FAO report, the newly formed government of Madhya Pradesh, in its inaugural cabinet meeting on December 15, decided to ban the sale of meat, fish and eggs in the open.

In 1950-51, the total Indian population was 359 million, and in 2022-23, population reached 1,376 million, which means during this period, the population of the nation increased by 3.83 times (383.3 per cent). Nevertheless, during the same period, food grain production of the country increased by 6.5 times (648.7 per cent) to a record 329.7 million tonnes in 2022-23, from 50.82 million tonnes in 1950-51. Food grains included rice, wheat, maize, other cereals and a variety of pulses.

If we analyse per capita net availability of food grains in India (grams per day) during 1951-2022 (refer to table 1), it is observed that in the said period, per capita food grain availability barely increased by 130 per cent. Even in 1961, before the commencement of ‘green revolution’, the net food grain availability (468.7 grams per day) was higher than the 2001 figure of 416.2 gram per day, and was very close to 2018-19 figures of 482.2 grams per day.

Fallacy of increased food production

During the last seven decades, food production in India has increased, as tables 2 and 3 suggest, many folds. For example:

* Rice production has increased 6.33 times (633 per cent) between 1951 and 2022. In the same period, wheat production increased by 16.53 times (1,653 per cent), coarse cereals production grew by a modest 3.3 times, pulses production increased by 3.3 times and fish production grew by 21.6 times.

* The rise in the production of milk, egg and meat are also noteworthy. Table 3 reveals, between 1951 and 2023, milk production increased by 13.6 times (1,356 per cent). India ranks 1st in the world in terms of total milk production. In 1968-69, prior to the launch of Operation Flood, milk production was only 21.2 million tonnes, which increased to 30.4 million tonnes by 1979-80 and 51.4 million tonnes by 1989-90. But per capita availability of milk rose by only 3.53 times from 130 gram per day in 1950-51 to 459 gram per day in 2022-23.

* In 2022-23, the total egg production in the country was 138.38 billion. India ranks 3rd in the world in terms of total egg production. In 2022-23, the per-capita availability of eggs was 101 eggs per annum compared to only 5 eggs in 1950-51. The figures reveal that the per capita availability of eggs increased by 20.2 times though egg production during this period increased by 75.5 times.

* The total meat production in the country was 9.76 million tonnes for the year 2022-23. In 1998-99, the corresponding figure was 1.86 million tonnes. During the last two decades, meat production increased by over 5.25 times. In 2023, India produced approximately 4.4 million metric tonnes of cara-beef (meat derived from Indian water buffalo) and veal. This figure put India in fourth place worldwide, after Brazil, China and the EU.

* India ranks 8th in the world in terms of total meat production. The meat production from poultry is 4.995 million tonnes, contributing about 51.14 per cent of total meat production. Buffalo contributes (17.62 per cent). In 2016-17, the per capita availability of meat was 5.72 kg per annum. The per capita availability reached 7.1 kg/annum in the year 2022-23.

Possible reasons for deprivation of proper food

There exists a huge mismatch between the production and per capita food availability data. It appears that sufficient food does not reach the hungry mouths, resulting in such a huge number (over 74 per cent) of Indian citizens being deprived of the healthy food they require. There could be various reasons behind this mass deprivation:

* The FAO report has rightly pointed out that food costs, if not matched by rising income, would lead to more people unable to afford a healthy diet. In the case of India, this is very likely. Most of the economic data indicates rising unemployment and inflation – a classic case of stagflation. A large section of Indians are unable to buy the required amount of quality food they need.

* Since the mid-1960s, the government of India has initiated the ‘green revolution’ and ‘white revolution’ (operation flood) to increase the production of food grains and milk. This was followed by the introduction of new farming techniques in the poultry and inland fisheries sector. Though all these initiatives have substantially increased production of food, these have also destroyed the century-old traditional cultivation practices and made the farmers completely dependent on commercial markets. Rapid commercialisation of the Indian food market has deprived the rural population of their easy and cheaper access to local foods.

* Uncontrolled use of pesticides has made many local fish varieties extinct, which thrived in the paddy fields during the rainy season. These fishes are the main source of protein for the rural poor.

* India’s exports of food grains have registered a steady growth in the last few years, which is reflected in the increase in India’s share in world food grain exports, from 3.38 per cent in 2010 to 7.79 per cent in 2022. Table 4 reveals, during the last two decades, there has been a steep increase in the export of non-basmati rice, wheat, cereals, fresh vegetables, dairy products, poultry and marine products. The country has exported 6,64,753.46 metric tonnes of poultry products to the world for the worth of Rs 1,081.62 crore/134.04 USD millions during the year 2022-23.

* In addition to exports, due to the dualistic nature of Indian economy where income and wealth distribution is highly skewed, a large quantity of milk is used for the production of high-end dairy products like ghee, cheese, butter, sweets, ice creams etc which remain out of the bounds of the poorer consumers. Coarse grains are also used as cattle, pouty feed.

Toxic food

The most serious issue on food availability pertains to toxic food that most of the economically challenged section of population are forced to consume due to non-availability of suitable alternatives. Scientists have cautioned that India’s rice and wheat varieties have lost essential health-friendly minerals and accumulated toxic elements. Quoting scientists, the Telegraph reports that researchers have found that the concentrations of essential elements including calcium, iron and zinc in grains from present-day cultivated rice and wheat varieties are between 19 per cent and 45 per cent lower than in grains from the 1960s. It is also found that rice grains from some landmark varieties cultivated across the country have nearly 16-fold higher arsenic and four-fold higher chromium levels than in the grains from the 1960s. According to the researchers, their findings suggest that while the Green Revolution enhanced yields and helped India attain self-sufficiency in food, the dietary values of rice and wheat — the country’s most popular carbohydrate staples — have deteriorated.

Post the green and white revolutions, indiscriminate use of deadly pesticides, inorganic fertilizers, hormones, herbicides and antibiotics, in the name of scientific commercial farming, has made the entire agro-ecosystem highly toxic. In 1970, 24,320 crore tonnes of pesticides were used in Indian agriculture. In 2009-10, the figure rose to 82,000 crore tonnes. During 1970-2002, a total of 18,39,121.62 crore tonnes of pesticides were applied. In the last decade, from 2012-13 to 2021-22, on an average, 58,429.7 million tonnes per annum of chemical pesticides have been consumed in India, reports Factly.

The food grains distributed through the public distribution system (PDS) are mostly of high yielding varieties introduced during the green revolution programme. These food grains, consumed generally by the economically challenged families, are expected to be deficient in essential elements including calcium, iron and zinc. In addition to this, the food grains are likely to be contaminated with arsenic and other toxic chemicals.

Observations

Policymakers should focus on the quality of food grains citizens consume, and ensure that only healthy and nutritious foods are distributed through public distribution systems. There should be no toxic food for free distribution.

Without further delay, India should make a time-bound plan to go back to its traditional organic farming in a phased manner. Moreover, export of essential food items like non-basmati rice, wheat, poultry, dairy products, and beef should be curtailed to increase domestic supplies. This will also save huge quantities of embedded water (virtual water) India exports along with its water-intensive agricultural products. 

Views expressed are personal