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Expand the food safety net without any more delay

GS Paper-3, Food Security
The Green Revolution, which began in the late 1960s, was a historic turning point that altered India’s food security position. Despite the country’s population growth at this time, it tripled food grain output over the following three or four decades, which resulted in a reduction of over 50% in both food insecurity and poverty. At least on a macro level, the nation was successful in achieving the noble goal of becoming a food-self-sufficient Nation. However, the issues facing the farming community have increased due to escalating land degradation, loss of soil fertility, water logging, climate change, and global supply chain disruption (Russia-Ukraine War). The fall in ground water levels is adding to the problem.
Therefore, India needs to examine these issues holistically in order to maintain food sustainability.
What is Food Security?
● Food security, according to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), is when all people, at all times, have physical and financial access to enough food that is safe, nutritious, and meets their dietary needs and food choices for an active and healthy life.
● The three crucial and interconnected elements of food security are availability, accessibility, and affordability of food.
What is the Current Framework for Food Security in India?
● Constitutional Provision: Despite the fact that the Indian Constitution does not specifically mention it, Article 21 of the Constitution can be read to contain the right to live in dignity, which includes the right to food and other essentials.
● Buffer Stock: In order to deliver food grains to the state governments, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) is in charge of purchasing them at minimum support prices (MSPs) and storing them in various sites throughout the country.
● Public Distribution System: Under the PDS, presently the commodities namely wheat, rice, sugar and kerosene are being allocated to the States/UTs for distribution.
○ Pulses, edible oils, iodized salt, spices, and other commodities of mass consumption are also distributed by several States/UTs through PDS shops.
● National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA): Through the NFSA, food security has shifted from a welfare to a rights-based approach. It covers 75% of the rural population and 50% of the urban population under the following categories:
● Antyodaya Anna Yojana: It represents the poorest of the poor, and each household is entitled to 35 kg of food each month.
● Priority Households (PHH): Households covered under PHH category are entitled to receive 5 kg of foodgrains per person per month.
What are the Challenges Related to Food Security in India?
● Menace of Climate Change: United Nations called out climate change, extreme weather events as the key factors driving growing food insecurity.
○ Increased temperatures, weather variability, invasive plants and animals, as well as more frequent extreme weather events, all have a negative impact on agriculture. These effects range from decreased agricultural yields to weakened nutritional quality of farm-grown produce to lower farmer profits.
● Pest and Weed Attacks: Over the past 15 years, India has experienced more than 10 major invasive pest and weed attacks.
○ India has to import maize in 2019 due to the Fall Armyworm (Pest) virtually destroying the entire maize crop in India in 2018.
○ In 2020, attacks by locusts also impacted Rajasthan and Gujarat.
● Volatile Market Pricing: Although the idea of globalisation has made agricultural trade more open, it is unable to guarantee more stable market prices.
○ Lack of fair market prices for finished goods, distressed sales, exorbitant cultivation costs, and erroneous market prices are obstacles to food security.
● Waterlogging: Excessive irrigation causes waterlogging that is often accompanied by soil salinity as waterlogged soils prevent leaching of the salts imported by the irrigation water.
○ The presence of waterlogged soil hinders plant growth and reduces agricultural productivity.
● Lack of Food Management Policy: In India, there is no strict management strategy for food security, and the Public Distribution Mechanism is vulnerable to leakage and diversion, mistakes in inclusion and exclusion, fraudulent and counterfeit ration cards, and a weak system for handling complaints and social audits.
● Shifting Focus to Biofuels: The amount of land utilised for growing food crops has decreased as the biofuel market has expanded. Additionally, huge amounts of water are needed for both the correct cultivation of biofuel crops and the production of the fuel, placing a pressure on the local and regional water supplies, which are crucial to food security.
What are the Recent Government Initiatives Related to Food Security?
● National Food Security Mission
● Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY)
● Integrated Schemes on Oilseeds, Pulses, Palm oil and Maize (ISOPOM)
● eNAM Portal
Way Forward:
● Prioritising Supporting Infrasturctural Development: The construction of warehouses, cold storage facilities, farm-to-factory corridors, and competitive market facilities should be given priority by the government.
○ Infrastructure will expand more quickly if the PPP model is supported in agriculture.
● More Transparent Food Security Measures: The Indian government could ensure more transparency on food stocks regulation in the private sector. For that, there is a need to set restrictions on the reserves that the private sector can hold, as they often tend to hoard food stocks to later sell at a profit.
○ Internationally, positional limits could be set on speculators but that would require a multilateral accord, a topic which should be on the agenda at the India’s G20 presidency.
● Strengthening One Nation One Ration Card Scheme: The experience of migratory workers during the height of the epidemic demonstrated how achieving food security is severely hampered by the lack of a universal PDS.
○ The “one nation, one ration card” programme should be put into practise by properly issuing universal ration cards to people who need food so that they can use the PDS from anywhere in the nation.
● Towards Sustainable Agriculture: Crop rotation, mixed cropping with pulses, the use of biofertilizers, reducing the use of pesticides, and integrated pest control are examples of sustainable agricultural techniques that should be supported and promoted.
○ By shifting the subsidy on power used to draw water for irrigation to the adoption of drip irrigation practises and the installation of solar panels, drip irrigation and solar panel installation can be encouraged.
● Incentivising Climate Resilient Crops: Investment is required for the creation and distribution of crops that are able to withstand changes in temperature and precipitation.
○ The government should promote the growing of crops that use less water and little fertiliser, including millets and pulses, and set up a lucrative Minimum Support Price and input subsidies for farmers.
● Agricultural Diplomacy: India can become a significant role in the Global South by assisting other developing nations in Africa and Asia through technology collaborations, collaborative research on drought-resistant crops, and promotion of climate wise agriculture.
UPSC Civil Services Examination Previous Year Question (PYQ) Prelims
Q. An objective of the National Food Security Mission is to increase the production of certain crops through area expansion and productivity enhancement in a sustainable manner in the identified districts of the country. What are those crops? (2010)
(a) Rice and wheat only
(b) Rice, wheat and pulses only
(c) Rice, wheat, pulses and oil seeds only
(d) Rice, wheat, pulses, oil seeds and vegetables
Ans: (b)

Mains
Q.1 In what way could replacement of price subsidy with Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) change the scenario of subsidies in India? Discuss. (2015)