The Necessity of Sustainable Food Security in India – an Analysis

Abstract

Food security means different to different people. It is context specific. One aspect is the yield per acre and availability of food grains. On the other aspect, it deals with policy interventions and their impact on social systems, particularly in India's context of 182.2 million people being undernourished. Food security means not only making the availability of food grains to the growing population but also its sustainability in terms of accessibility and acceptability of food grains. The inevitable policy interventions in India have shifted the production interests from traditional crops to commercial crops and increased the need for the intervention of private companies in production and marketing. The crops produced now are more export-based and urban-based, with less calorific value and high cosmetic standards. With a fragmented supply chain and increasing private monopoly over food production, the stability and sustainability of Indian food systems in feeding the 1.39 billion population are questionable. This study analyses how the policy interventions since independence have changed food production systems and their impact on sustaining food security.