Chapter 7.
Enhancing and sustaining agricultural productivity for food and
nutrition security
K V Peter and Binoo Bonny
Despite tremendous gains in global food production, there is unusual
increase in the number of undernourished in recent years with figures
crossing 1 billion mark in 2009-10 with only marginal reductions there
after (FAO, 2008). This mismatch was identified quite early and gave
credentials to the acceptance of food security as a defining development
concept in the first World Food Conference of 1974. Since then 50
years have passed and four more Food Summits were held at short
intervals in 1996, 2000, 2002 and 2006 which resolved to reduce hunger
to half by 2015. The major impediment remains the unprecedented
increase in the rate of population growth as indicated with the current
world population at 6.2 b. which is expected to cross 8.2 b. by 2020.
This needs to be evaluated in the context that it took the initial 4 million
years for the humanity to reach 2.5 billion in 1950.
Till early 1970s it was the national and global food supplies which
dominated the food security concerns of the world. The limitation of the
food supply focus was quite evident in the individual and household
levels of poverty standards. The theory on food entitlement by Sen
(1981) and related works lead to a comprehensive conceptualization of
food security as a situation when all people, at all times, have physical
and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their
dietary needs and food preferences for a healthy and active life (FAO,
2008). It entails along with availability of food, accessibility and
entitlement to food as determinants of the overall household food
security. It became clear that adequate food availability at the national
level did not automatically translate into food security at the household
level.
The FAO (2010) estimates of the global trends of poverty and under
nourishment as reported in Table 1 show that the number of
1
undernourished people in 2007 increased by 75 million, over and above
FAO’s estimate of 848 million undernourished in 2003-05. The AsiaPacific region with 578 million undernourished and sub-Saharan Africa
with 239 million hungry people account for 62 and 26 % respectively of
the world’s food insecure population. More importantly, the majority of
the people who cannot meet their nutritional needs depend on agriculture
for livelihood. Much of this increase is attributed to the continued and
drastic increase in prices of staple cereals, pulses and oil crops (Fig -1)
since 2004 leading to an estimated 100 million more people pushed into
poverty. Unlike earlier food price shocks which were mainly driven by
short term food shortages, the 2007-08 price spikes came in a year when
the world reaped a record grain crop with more than 100 million metric
tons of extra grain compared to previous year. In this the relation
between price volatility and hunger has been explained in terms of
widening demand supply gap attributed to population growth, energy
cost leading to conversion of farm lands into biofuel crops and climate
variability.
This brought the number of undernourished people
worldwide to 925 million in 2010 (FAO 2012) and the global food
demand is expected to be doubled by 2050.
The first World Food Summit held in 1974 was aimed at eradicating
world hunger within a decade. Unfortunately the hunger and food
security statistics show that even this target is not likely to be met due to
conglomeration of reasons both at lopsided policy level and occurrence
of natural calamities. The manifestation of poverty in forms of calorie
deprivation, protein deficiency and micronutrient deficiency is part of
food security concerns. All these are encapsulated into the UN zero
hunger project aimed at evolving sustainable food systems, ensuring
zero wastage of food, 100% increase in small holder productivity and
income, year round100% access to adequate food for all by 2025.
Therefore the onus to eliminate hunger continues to rest with agriculture
and its capacity to address the following inherited and future challenges.
 Increase food production by 70% to feed a growing population of
9.00 billion by 2050
2
 Meet the dietary requirement changes linked with rising income in
developing countries
 Sustainable management of over exploited and depleting natural
resources through investments and incentives
 Compacting the impact of increasing food prices and energy crisis
 Initiatives for climate resilient agriculture
 Management of production from small and family farms
Indian Scenario
Journey of Indian Agriculture from the years of acute food crisis to food
self sufficiency and food security entitlements is tremendous. From the
years of Bengal rice famine of 1943 which killed over 3 million
children, women and men from hunger and starvation to the National
Food Security Bill of 2013, it has been posed with the challenges of
population, poverty and climate change. Enormity of the problems faced
by Indian agriculture is evident from the fact that despite the national
gains in food self sufficiency (51million tones in 1951 to 258 million
tons in 2013) and security through the heralded Green revolution, India
still has a population of 250 million food insecure inhabitants which
roughly estimate to one fourth of world’s food insecure people (Table
2). The Global Hunger Index (GHI), a more comprehensive tool used
to measure and track global hunger, ranks India in the category of
alarming poverty along with Bangladesh as evident from Table 3
(IFPRI,2008). More disturbing are the rates of malnutrition among the
most vulnerable sections of Indian population like women and children
(Table 4).
Green Revolution
Despite rampant hunger and poverty, the food production trends show an
impressive record of taking the country out of serious food shortages.
The annals of Green revolution which demonstrated favorable interplay
of infrastructure, technology, extension, risk taking farming community
and policy support backed by strong political will provided India the
much needed impetus. Indian farmers achieved as much progress in
3
wheat production in four years (1964–68) of green revolution, as during
the preceding 4000 years (Table 5).The main source of long-run growth
was technological augmentation of yields per unit of cropped area. This
resulted in tripling of food grain yields, and food grain production
increased from 51 million tones in 1950–51 to 217 million tones in
2006–07. Production of oilseeds, sugarcane, and cotton have also
increased more than four-fold over the period, reaching 24 million tones
, 355 million tones and 23 million bales, respectively, in 2006–07. But,
although GDP from agriculture has more than quadrupled, from Rs
1083740 million in 1950–51 to Rs 4859370 million in 2006–07 (both at
1999–2000 price), the increase per worker is rather modest (Fig-2).
Moreover the percentage contribution of agriculture to the overall GDP
also decreased from around 50 in 1950-51 to 30 in 1990-91 to 15.7 in
2008-09. In the last two decades, agricultural growth rate (3%) is
around half of the overall growth rate of 6-7% (NAAS, 2009). But there
has been only slight fall in the population dependent on agriculture for
employment and livelihood with 61% in 1990-91 to 52% in 2008-09.
The average farm size also recorded significant fall from 2.3 ha in 197071 to 1.32 ha in 200-01 with an increase in the number of small farm
holdings from 70 million to 121 million during the period due to arable
land conversion and fragmentation. At this trend it is projected to be
0.68 ha in 2020 and 0.32 ha by 2030.
Fast growing population is one of the major factors that negated the
Indian achievements in food production. Population of 520 million in
1947 has crossed the billion mark to reach 1120 million in 2013. In
meeting the predicted food requirement of 345 million tons in 2030 the
food production needs to be increased at the annual rate of 5.5 million
tones. Moreover, there is a predicted increase of 100% in the demand
for high value food products of horticulture, dairy, livestock and fish
during the years 2000-2030 (Fig.3). This is attributed to the increased
rural urban migration and increase in quality of life. This necessitates
high investments in infrastructure and cool chain development for its
handling, value addition, processing and marketing. The required growth
over the base year production (2006-07) to achieve domestic demand by
4
2020 is presented in Table 6. But the production environment remains
hampered by the continuously shrinking and deteriorating natural
resources and impact of climate variability resulting from a continuously
increasing global temperature. Around 120.72 million ha land is
degraded out of agriculture due to soil erosion and 8.4 million ha is
affected by soil salinity and water logging. Green house gases from
agriculture are estimated to contribute 30% of global emissions causing
climate change. The total amount of GHGs emitted in India is estimated
at 1228 million tones, which accounted for only 3 % of the total global
emissions, and of which 63 % was emitted as CO2, 33 % as CH4, and the
rest 4 % as N2O. The GHG emissions in 1990, 1994 and 2000 increased
from 988 to 1228 to 1484 million tones respectively and the
compounded annual growth rate of these emissions between 1990 and
2000 is 4.2 % which is low compared to many developed countries.
Thus agriculture in India is unfolding a new agrarian model where
domestic product is low, average size of holding is contracting/
fragmenting and number of operational holdings increasing. Reduction
in farm size without any alternative income augmenting opportunity is
resulting in fall in farm income leading to agrarian distress. It is in this
context the augmentation of food production through small farm
holdings and family farms, urban and peri-urban agriculture assumes
significance. Crop diversification, homestead farming and establishment
of bio-fortified-nutri-farms in small holdings by integrating principles of
farm ecology, nutrition and farm economics are proposed to defend the
gains of food self sufficiency. Protected cultivation, biotechnology and
nutraceuticals can play the critical role of supportive technology in
achieving the zero hunger targets.
Small and Family farms
Assuming the significance of small holdings and family farms in future
food production, General Assembly of the United Nations in its 66th
session adopted 2014 as the “International Year of Family Farming”
(IYFF). It aims at repositioning family farming at the centre of
agricultural, environmental and social policies in the national agenda by
5
identifying gaps and opportunities to promote a shift towards a more
equal and balanced development. It helps to raise the profile of family
farming and smallholder farming by focusing world attention on its
significant role in the fight for eradication of hunger and poverty,
providing food security and nutrition, improving livelihoods, managing
natural resources, protecting the environment, and achieving sustainable
development particularly in rural areas.
Family farming includes all family-based agricultural activities and is
linked to several areas of rural development. It is defined as a means of
organizing agriculture, forestry, fisheries, pastoral and aquaculture
production managed and operated by a family and predominantly reliant
on family labor. Family and small-scale farming are inextricably linked
to world food security as it forms the predominant type of agriculture in
both developing and developed countries. It involves around 2 billion
people, almost one-third of humanity. Around 70% of the world’s food
is produced on 404 million small-scale farms of less than 2 hectares
operated by 1.5 billion men and women farmers. It is estimated that 4060% of rural income in developing countries is generated in these small
family farms. In addition to the essential role they play in food
production, they have significant contribution in sustaining rural
economies and stewardship of biodiversity. Yet most of these are very
poor and operate in disadvantaged conditions with insufficient access to
resources and support.
Expensive and short-term solutions proposed by conventional
agriculture do not hold good for the social and economic problems of
smallholder farmers. Many farmers are forced to purchase expensive
inputs which often push them into a cycle of debt. Beyond the financial
implications, these inputs also pollute the environment, destroy
biodiversity and degrade the nutritional quality of our food. Therefore,
organic agriculture and other agro-ecological models are suggested as
the most appropriate way to achieve ecological, agronomic and socioeconomic intensification of family farming and smallholder agriculture.
It also provides healthy and nutritious food. Organic farmers ensure that
traditions are kept alive and facilitate marketplace success by sharing
6
experiences and developing new farming methods. Together, organic
smallholders can strengthen social structures, develop innovative
networks and promote entrepreneurship, the impact of which includes
more job opportunities, a stronger local value chain and improved rural
development.
Indian Context
At national level, there are a number of factors for a successful
development of family farming like agro-ecological conditions and
territorial characteristics; policy environment; access to markets; access
to land and natural resources; access to technology and extension
services; access to finance; demographic, economic and socio-cultural
conditions; availability of specialized education among others. Family
farming has important socio-economic, environmental and cultural role
as 81% of total agricultural holdings belong to the category with an
average holding size of 1.33 ha. Statistics on the farming population of
the country (Table 7) indicated 49% of the farms are in the family farm
category. Contribution of these farms to the national food security is
enormous as 60% of the production comes from these family farms.
These family farms grow traditional crops mostly following organic and
natural farming practices. These practices help in the maintenance of
traditional flavor of commodities, soil fertility, environment and
reduction in the Green House Gases (GHG) and effects of climate
change.
However, incomes of Family Farm Farmers are not in tune with increase
in the prices of agricultural inputs. Inadequate access to natural and
basic resources for production, markets, value addition and processing
are responsible for the uneconomic functioning of these farms. This has
been instrumental in perpetuating poverty, hunger and malnutrition in
the country and keeping these farm families in a highly disadvantaged
socio-economic situation. Many food aid programs like midday school
meals for school children, subsidized food grains through public
distribution system and the legendary Food Security Act of 2013 which
ensure legal right to food for all are operational in the country to combat
7
problems of hunger and malnutrition. In fact, the Food Security Bill
addresses the problems of calorie deprivation, protein hunger and
micronutrient malnutrition. It ensures legal entitlements to food through
Life Cycle Approach with special attention to the first 1000 days in a
child’s life, and considers women as head of the household with regard
to food entitlements. It provides the right to enlarged food basket with
35 kg per family per month of wheat, rice or climate smart Nutri-cereals.
These enabling provisions on food availability and food absorption are
ensured through national grid of grain storages and Public Distribution
System(PDS) reforms. However, these can only be considered as short
term solutions against hunger and the government needs to focus more
on sustainable strategies in agricultural production which target the
poorest households in meeting the hunger reduction targets of the
Millennium Development Goals (MDG) (Sustainable Development Goal
from 2015) and World Food Summits.
Homestead farms and nutritional gardens provide great scope in
overcoming widespread malnutrition prevailing in our country by
enabling farm families to have balanced diet. The programe for
organizing Nutri-farms will involve introducing in the cropping system,
biofortified crops rich in iron, zinc, vitamin A, Vitamin B 12 and other
micronutrients as well as those which are rich in protein like quality
protein maize. The programe may be taken up in the districts suffering
from a high burden of hidden hunger caused by micro-nutrient
deficiencies.
Homestead Farming
Small holder homestead farming, at this juncture, has proved to be a
time tested method for ensuring food sufficiency. Home gardening or
homestead farming is the oldest land use activity next only to shifting
cultivation evolved through generations of gradual intensification of
cropping in response to increasing human pressure and the resulting
shortage of arable lands The origin of home gardening could be traced to
South East Asia and East Africa . In Java(Indonesia) and Kerala(India) ,
home gardening is a way of life and is still critical to local subsistence
8
economy and food security (Nair and Kumar, 2006). A homestead is an
operational farm unit in which a number of crops (including tree crops),
vegetables, fruits,spices, ornamentals, tubers and medicinal plants are
grown along with livestock, poultry, and/or fish production mainly to
satisfy the farmers basic need (Tejwani, 1994). A home garden could
also be viewed as an integrated system which comprises different
components in its small area: the family house, a living area, a kitchen
garden, a mixed garden, a fish pond, stores, an animal house and, of
course people. The system with a mix of vegetables, flowers and
medicinal plants as intercrops in fruits and plantations involving spices
was able to sustain the biodiversity of vegetation around the household
with a change in the local micro-climate having long-term benefits on
health of family members.
However, the traditional home gardens were managed unscientifically
without any planning and with very low resource use efficiency.
Increasing population and low per capita availability of arable lands
have necessitated the need to have better managed home gardens.
Evidences from various parts showed that homestead farming and
interventions in home gardens could play a significant role in improving
food security especially for the resource poor rural households in
developing countries. Ali et al (2008) reported that in Bangladesh,
implementation of a project aiming to provide farmers a subsidiary
source of income through potential homestead farming system, to
increase and sustain productivity of existing homestead farms and to
encourage maximum utilization of available family labor, through
vegetable could meet the daily vegetable requirement of small farmers
by supplying 200-220 g/head/day against the bench mark level of 40-50
g/head/day. Also vegetable intake largely provided required amount of
Vitamin A, C, calcium and iron. Thus food security was increased;
nutritional deficiency was reduced along with women empowerment.
The home gardens of Kerala evolved in response to the pressure of a
shrinking land resource base coupled with a high population density,
which necessitated a conscious attempt on the part of farmers to achieve
their goals by living within biophysical, ecological, and economic
9
constraints is another classical example of family farm. As a traditional
farming system, home garden agriculture is essentially subsistenceoriented, with need based production and labor provided mostly by the
family itself. High-density farming involving several species of
seasonal, annual, and perennial crops thus evolved to meet their
demands and to achieve highly efficient use of resources. To supplement
the subsistence level on-farm income from smallholdings, household
members are being driven to off-farm employment and the high
opportunity cost of family labor has led to the development of part time
farming also (Salam et al. 2000). A study conducted to determine the
socioeconomic factors and constraints which affect farming in 400
homesteads of Kerala by John and Nair (1999) revealed that 17.5 % and
30.25% of the homesteads raised cattle and poultry, respectively, as a
complementary enterprise. The system in general was reported
profitable, resulting in a net profit of Rs 0.280million /year with a
benefit:cost ratio of 2.35. Nearly 78% of the farmers reported labor
scarcity, while 97.75% mentioned high labor cost to increased
cultivation cost.
A study by ICAR Research Complex Goa in 20 homesteads indicated
that nearly two-thirds of the homestead-grown vegetables are consumed
in the household with only one-fifth of the vegetables being sold in the
market while a part of it is exchanged among the neighboring
households. Most of the vegetable production in the homesteads was
concentrated during November to March coinciding with the postmonsoon period. Nutritionally, the homestead met most of the mineral
and vitamin requirement of the household family members although
carbohydrates and protein requirements were met partly only by the
homestead production. The project also helped to develop model
homestead units for different holding sizes of the household based on the
family requirement and the marketing potential keeping in view the
resource situations including part or fulltime availability of the family
members to work in their gardens. The Homestead Food Production
(HFP) program, introduced in Bangladesh by Helen Keller International
nearly two decades ago, to promote an integrated package of home
10
gardening, small livestock production and nutrition education with the
aim of increasing household production, availability, and consumption
of micronutrient-rich foods and improving the health and nutritional
status of women and children is now operating in several countries of
Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Evidence shows that HFP in Bangladesh
improved food security of nearly 5 million vulnerable people in diverse
agro ecological zones. This was achieved through increased production
and consumption of micronutrient-rich foods; increased income from
gardens and less expenditure on micronutrient-rich foods; women’s
empowerment; enhanced partner capacity and community development
(Iannotti et al 2009). Asaduzzaman et al (2011) quantified the
cost/benefit of traditional and developed homestead vegetable
production systems and suggested that developed gardening has better
performances in terms of calorie intake and economic performances over
traditional but the optimal calorie intake with least-cost technology
could be a feasible livelihood strategy for resource poor people.
Developed garden contributed 10% to achieve threshold poverty level
whereas traditional contributed only 2%. On the basis of input costs
other than family labor, BCR was higher in developed (3.24) than
traditional (2.63) but when labor cost was included in the analysis,
traditional gardening was still feasible (BCR 1.25) but developed garden
(BCR 0.60) appeared as non-profitable .The study concluded that
developed gardening is profitable compared to traditional if the
opportunity cost of family labor is ignored as an item of cost of
production.
Urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA)
UPA has evolved from a simple, traditional and informal activity into a
commercial and professional initiative. It has become a key element in
food security strategies officially recognized by the 15th FAO-COAG
session in Rome, 1999 and at the World Food Summit, 2002. It is
conceptualized as an agricultural production process located within
(intra-urban) or on the fringe (peri-urban) of a town, a city or a
metropolis, which grows, processes and distributes a diversity of
11
agriculture products, using largely human, land and water resources,
products and services found in and around that urban area.
UPA provides the urban migrants who are constrained for the very
necessities of life and that too at compromised quality standards and
exorbitant rates, an opportunity for self provisioning of safe and diverse
food. It serves as a means for vulnerable groups to minimize their foodinsecurity problems by reducing their reliance on cash income for food
by growing their own food on plots inside or outside the city, thus
increasing their access to food. Furthermore UPA allows for saving on
energy at various levels of food chain including packaging, transport,
storage and distribution which will affect the final retail price of the food
commodities. However, UPA cannot be expected to satisfy the urban
demand for staple crops like cereals and tubers, but need to be
appreciated as an important strategy for self-provisioning, especially for
poor households. Moreover, the highly developed commercial urban
farming that supplies urban residents with fresh vegetables, fruits and
animal products also forms a major component of the urban food
system. Thus it also helps in providing the diversity needed to ensure
dietary quality – an important aspect of food security.
Given the urban constraints related to land, water and other amenities
needed for farming, UPA generally prefers short duration crops like
vegetables, annual flowers, ornamental trees, seasonal spices and herbs,
aromatic plants and mushrooms. These can be grown for human
consumption and ornamental use within and in the immediate
surroundings of cities with rural agriculture continuing to be the primary
source of basic food for urban dwellers also.
Horticultural crops
assume greater significance in the context of UPA and it is more of
urban and peri-urban horticulture (UPH). Protected cultivation
techniques are available to force fruits, vegetables and flower crops to
grow off season. Hydroponics, aeroponics and aquaponics are possible
methods of growing crops saving space, time, energy and labor.
Biotechnology and nutraceuticals
12
Nutraceuticals are functional foods based on the philosophy of using
food as preventive medicine. Biotechnology provides tools to enhance
active components in food. Any food or part of food or nutrient that
provides health benefits, including prevention and treatment of a disease
qualify to be called nutraceuticals. Since the introduction of the first
genetically modified crop, the "Flavr Savr" tomato in 1994, "GM"
products are now found in thousands of foods, from bagels to butter
tarts to soy milk. While the biotech industry points to the safety and
benefits of genetic modifications, environmentalists are quick to
denounce it for potential harm to biodiversity. Products like Fenulife
(Fenugreek galactomannon combination) which control blood sugar,
Golden Rice “swarna” which is rice genetically modified to contain high
levels of beta-carotene, which the body can convert into vitamin A
indicate emerging role of this class of food. In “swarna” rice
modification is done using genes from a daffodil, a pea, a bacterium and
a virus. As many as 500,000 children go blind each year due to vitamin
A deficiency, and this new rice is being touted as biotechnology at its
best to solve problems of food insecurity.
It is estimated that 134 m ha are brought under transgenic crops since
1966 of which 46% are in developing countries (China, India, Brazil,
Argentina, Paraguay and South Africa) and in crops like Soybean,
Maize, Cotton, and Canola. More than 50 crops and forestry trees are
being targeted currently . Tissue culture propagation of plating material
for horticultural crops is making waves in banana,ginger,cardamom and
ornamentals.
References
1.Ali M. Yusuf, M. MustaqueAhmed and Badirul Islam,M
.(2008). “Homestead Vegetable Gardening: Meeting The
13
Need Of Year Round Vegetable Requirement of Farm
Family” Paper presented in the National workshop on
Multiple cropping held at Bangladesh Agricultural Research
Council, Farmgate, Dhaka-1215, Bangladesh on 23-24 April,
2008.
2.Asaduzzaman Md, Naseem A and Singla ,R .(2011). Benefit-Cost
Assessment of Different Homestead Vegetable Gardening on
Improving Household Food and Nutrition Security in Rural
Bangladesh, Paper presented at the Agricultural & Applied
Economics Association’s 2011 AAEA & NAREA Joint Annual
Meeting, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, July 24-26, 2011
3.FAO (2008). The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2008.
Economic and Social Development Department, Food and
Agriculture Organization of the UN. Rome
4.FAO (2010). The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2010.
Economic and Social Development Department, Food and
Agriculture Organization of the UN. Rome
5FAO,( 2012),) Food Insecurity in the World, Food and Agriculture
Organization Of The United Nations, Rome, 2012
6.Iannotti ora , Kenda Cunningham and Marie Ruel (2009) Improving
Diet Quality and Micronutrient Nutrition Homestead Food
Production in Bangladesh IPRI Discussion Paper 00928
7.IFPRI. (2009). Global Hunger Index. Washington, DC, IFPRI
(www.ifpri.org/millionsfed)
8.John, J. and Nair, M. A. (1999). Socio-economic characteristics of
homestead farming in south Kerala Journal of Tropical Agriculture
1999 Vol. 37 No. 1/2 pp. 107-109
9. NAAS. (2009), State of Indian Agriculture- A NAAS Publication.
National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, New Delhi
14
10.Nair, P.K.R and Kumar, B.M .(2006). Introduction in Tropical Home
gardens , Springer, Netherlands, P 1-10
11.Salam, M.A., Noguchi T., and Koika, M.( 2000). Understanding why
farmers plant trees in the homestead agro-forestry in Bangladesh.
Agroforestry Systems. 50. 77-93
12.Sen, A. (1981) Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and
Deprivation (Oxford, Clarendon Press).
13.Tejwani, K. G. (1994). Agroforestry in India, Oxford and IBH
Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi.
15
Table 1. Trends in Global undernutrition (1990-92 base year)
Sl.
No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Country/Region
World
Developing countries
India
China
Asia Pacific (excluding India & China)
East & North Africa
Developed countries
Latin America & Carribia
Sub Saharan Africa
1990-92
million(%)
842
823
207(26)
178(21)
(22)
19(2)
19(2)
53(6)
169 (20)
2003-2005
million(%)
848
832
231(28)
123(14)
33(4)
16 (2)
45 (5)
212 (25)
Source : FAO 2008
Table :2. Number and percentage of under nourished people in
India since the base year 1990-1992
Year
Total population (million)
1990-92
1995-97
863
949
16
Undernourishment
Number(mill Percenta
ion)
ge
215
25
202
21
2001-03
2005-07
2009-10
1050
1116
1168
212
221
250
17
20
20
21
Table 3. Contributions of the three components of Global Hunger
Index (GHI) and the underlying data for calculating the 1990 and
2010 GHI
Proportion
Prevalence of
Country
of
under underweight
nourished in in
children
the
under 5 years
population
(%)
(%)
1990- 2004- 1990- 200392
06
92
08
India
24.0
22.0 59.5
43.5
Bangladesh 36.0
26.0 56.5
41.3
China
15.0
10.0 15.3
6.0
Pakistan
22.0
23.0 39.0
25.3
World
Source: Global Hunger Index, IFPRI, 2010
Under five GHI
mortality
With
rate (%)
data
from
198892
1990 2008 1990
With
data
from
200308
2010
11.6
14.9
4.6
13.0
-
24.1
24.2
6.0
19.1
15.1
6.9
5.4
2.1
8.9
-
31.7
35.8
11.6
24.7
19.8
Table 4. Levels of malnutrition among vulnerable sections of the
population (%)in India
Indicators
Children under 3 years who are stunted
18
NFHS-2
1998-99
45.50
NHFS-3
2005-06
38.40
Children under 3 years who
are wasted: 15.50
19.10
weight for height
Children under 3 years who
are 47.0
45.9
underweight: weight for age-less than 2 S.D
Anaemia among children aged 6 to 59 74.0
70.0
months
Women in 15 to 24 years in BMI
18.5
NA
44.1
Women in age 25 to 49 year BMI 18.5
NA
30.7
Women in age 15 to 49 year BMI 18.5
36.2
35.6
Source: Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of
India
Table 5.Achievement in Wheat Production over the years
Sl.
no
Period
Production
1
Earliest evidence
cultivation
2
Production in 1947-48
06 million tones
3
Production in 1963-64
10 million tones
4
Production in 1967-68
17 million tones
5
Production in 2012
92 million tones
of Mohanjo-daro excavations 2300 BC
19
Table 6. Required growth over the base year production of 2006-07
to achieve domestic demand by 2020
Commodity
Domestic
production
(million
tons)
Projected Growth
demand rate during
1998-99 to
(2020-21)
200607(%)
(million
tones)
Required
growth
rate
over 2006-07 to
meet
the
demand (%)
Cereals
201.9
262.0
0.62
1.9
Pulses
14.2
19.1
0.47
2.1
Food grains
216.1
281.1
0.61
1.9
Oilseeds
23.6
53.7
1.96
6.0
Vegetable
111.8
127.2
3.68
0.9
Fruit
57.7
86.2
3.06
2.9
Sugarcane
315.5
345.3
-0.60
0.6
Milk
100.9
141.5
3.65
2.4
Fish
6.9
11.2
2.89
3.5
Egg (billion)
50.7
81.4
6.60
3.4
2006-07
Table 7 Statistics of farming population over total population of
India
20
Total
Population
Farming
Population
Small and
farmers
(Million)
(Million)
(Million)
Male
530
318
249
Female
495
297
249
Total
1025
615
498
Family
Fig.1. World commodity prices
600
120
500
100
400
80
300
60
200
40
100
20
US$/barrel
Maize
Rice
Wheat
21
Oil
Mar-13
Feb-13
Jan-13
Jan-12
Jan-11
Jan-10
Jan-09
Jan-08
Jan-07
Jan-06
Jan-05
Jan-04
Jan-03
Jan-02
0
Jan-01
0
Jan-00
US$/ton
World Commodity Prices, Jan 2000 - Mar 2013
Fig.2. Per worker GDP in agriculture and non-agriculture sectors,
Rs at 1999-00 prices
100000
90000
80000
70000
60000
50000
40000
30000
20000
10000
0
1987-88
1999-00
Agriculture
22
Non-Agriculture
2004-05
23
24