India’s Hunger Paradox: Self-Sufficiency in Production Doesn’t Mean Food Security

Why in News?

To achieve the goal of zero hunger, India should consider a strategic initiative aimed at eliminating food insecurity in India and ensuring affordable access, with a special and immediate focus on India’s youngest children.

WHO Recommended Calorie Intake and Situation in India

• At six months of age, 33 per cent of the daily calorie intake is expected to come from food. It is presumed that the child obtains the remaining calories through “on-demand” breastfeeding.
• The fifth National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) data highlighted the problem of "Zero-Food" among infants and children in India. For example,
  • Among mothers with a child between ages 6-23 months, 18 per cent reported that their child did not eat any food referred to as “zero-food” in the 24 hours preceding the survey.
  • More than 80 per cent had not consumed any protein-rich foods for an entire day (“zero-protein”).
  • Close to 40 per cent did not eat any grains (roti, rice, etc) for an entire day, and six out of 10 children do not consume milk or dairy of any form every day (“zero-milk”).
• Going without food for an entire day at this critical period of a child’s development raises serious concerns related to severe food insecurity.

 

Why is India struggling to defeat Hunger?

• Improper assessment method: India has relied on measures of anthropometric failure such as the percentage of children short for their age (stunting) or weighing less given their height (wasting), compared to a reference population.
  • There is multifactorial nature of causes of stunting and wasting and these measures are at best proxies suggesting overall deficiencies without providing any specific nature of the deficiencies in children.
• Single ministry can’t handle: It is challenging for any single ministry or department to take responsibility for designing, implementing and monitoring policies.
• Intergenerational linkage is a problem: Stunting prevalence poses a challenge as a policy indicator for formulating new policies and assessing the success of existing initiatives because of the well-established intergenerational relationships between child stunting and parental height.
• Food is not reaching to the needy: India has recently become the world’s leading country in milk production and has seen notable success in various production metrics for food items.
  • Yet the data on Zero-Food underscores that achieving sufficiency in the production doesn’t mean attaining food security.

 

India's Efforts to Achieve SDG 2 (Zero Hunger):

• Mission Poshan 2.0, the overarching flagship programme dedicated to maternal and child nutrition, has evolved in the right direction by targeting SDG 2.
• The National Food Security Act 2013, including flagship supplementary nutrition programme service.
• Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana

 

Challenges to Food Security

• Disruptions in global food production and distribution systems triggered by Covid-19 and further accentuated by Ukrainian-Russian conflict, have made food insecurity a global issue.
• The US recently made ending hunger by 2030 a priority and launched a high-level White House initiative on hunger, nutrition and health.

 

Measures India should take to fight Hunger

• A national effort to establish routine dietary and nutritional assessments for the entire population is the need of the hour.
• Appropriate food-based metrics should be developed to effectively monitor and assess the performance of Poshan 2.0. The zero-food metric provides a good start.
  • The success of the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) offers valuable insights for Poshan 2.0, in its strategic use of directly trackable metrics, as well as a strong political commitment at the highest levels.
• Measuring the availability, accessibility and affordability of nutritious food, especially for disadvantaged and vulnerable populations such as young children, women should be the foundation for any evidence-based policy to end hunger and improve nutritional security.

 

Conclusion

• In order to achieve the SDG of zero hunger, elevating food intake among young children is of primary importance.
• This can be ensured by affordable access to sufficient quantity and quality of nutritionally diverse food.

 

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Q1) What are some challenges in ending world hunger?

Across the globe, approximately 828 million people do not have enough food and nearly 43.3 million people are at risk of famine. The consequence of poor diets in vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients are affecting health. Ending world hunger is hugely challenging due to conflicts, war, climate change, disasters, and structural poverty and inequality. 

 

Q2) How has the Ukraine-war impacted food security in the world?

Due to ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine,  Fears of an unprecedented global food crisis similar to, or even worse than, the 2007-2008 crisis have mounted, magnifying ripple effects for security, migration and political instability. The supply shock provoked by the blockade of Ukrainian exports, coupled with record price levels for energy and basic commodities, led several nations to adopt export restrictions, fuelling market shocks and speculative operations, leading to unpredictability in global food supply.

 

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Source: The Indian Express