Prof (Dr) R D Gupta
According to Dictionary Com, security means “freedom from danger and risk; safety; freedom from anxiety or doubt; well founded confidence; assurance; guarantee’. In the light of the above, ”food security may be defined as; the scenario in which every citizen irrespective of caste, colour and creed has assurance/guarantee and access to sufficient and affordable good quality food. Food security, must address three major issues namely food availability, access to food and use of food. The first one is governed by adequate food production by quantity and quality, the second by physical and financial ability to obtain food and third by proper consumption in relation to nutritional needs. Food security involves production and distribution in which storage and transport form important part. It includes nutrition, hygiene, sanitation, water supply and healthy environment.
Thus, concept of food security came to fore during the last three decades which consists of not only the availability of food but also includes economic approach to food and its biological absorption in the body. It is considered in terms of availability of food and its quality, accessibility and affordability for general masses. Generally, there are four pillars of food security, its availability affordability, accessibility and quality of food in terms of balanced diet.
How to achieve sustainable food security;
Increase in food production in countries like Mexico, India and others was triggered due to Green Revolution using hybrid seeds and massive increase in chemical fertilizers, pesticides and spread of irrigation. Although absolute production went up and self sufficiency was achieved in India yet later on productivity of rice and wheat did not further improve significantly, rather there was either a gradual decline in them or their yields became stagnant. It was because excessive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides deteriorated the soil health while farming continues to be the only means of livelihood of majority of the people in India, farm incomes have remained sluggish and incentives to improve, productivity have not been effective. Under such situations, it becomes an imperative to adopt the following strategies to achieve the sustainable food security.
Next Green Revolution : Global food production requires to be loomed by between 50 and 100 per cent if widespread famine has to be avoided in the coming decades as the human population is expanding rapidly.
Next Green Revolution i.e second Green Revolution is required to feel the extra 3 billion people who will be added to the existing population of 7 billion by 2050 (Connor, 2009). According to experts of the Royal Society (Britain’s national Academy of Scientist) a number of short term and long term measures will have to be adopted urgently if agricultural production has to meet the demands rendered by the growing human numbers.
“There is insufficient water to support an increase in the cultivated area, and the environmental conseuqneces of the increasing cultivated areas are undesirable. Additional production will have to take place without further damage to the environment,” the Royal Society report says. The area of land available to sustain each human beig is “dangerously declining” because of soil degradation the report says.
Use of Best Farming Practices : There must be a focus on farming by using best farm practices. Such practices may consist of using certified seeds of various crops, modern machinery, drip or sprinkle irrigation, balanced use of fertilizers by maintaining the ratio of N,P2,O5 and K2O fertilizers in the form of 4:2:1 (NPK) ratio, use of organics and scientific storage. Agro research institute’s advice, crop insurance and making of professioal’s decisions independent are also required to be followed.
Farm Mechanization: There is no doubt that farm mechanization plays a critical role in improving agricultural production as well as productivity by enabling proper and efficient use of inputs. However, fragmented and subdivided land holdings prevent the use of mechanized operations for better agro-extension work as the scale of farming is not suitable for best possible farm operations.
Plain areas of Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir State, Punjab Haryana and Uttar Pradesh where farmer’s holdings are larger in size have achieved a faster growth in mechanized agriculture due to growing awareness among farmers. Pace of mechanization in north eastern states except Assam as well as in Uttrakhand, Himachal Pradesh (except parts of Una and Kangra districts) and hilly terrain of Jammu and Kashmir is very slow due to constraints such as hilly topography, high cost of transport, socio-economic conditions.
Mechanized farming has revolutionized the Assam’s economy while bringing a sea change in farmer’s lives. Farm mechanization project was implemented by the State Institute of Rural Development (SIRD) in Assam under the Special Swarnajayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY) which has become a boon for the farmers (Anonymous, 2004). The rate of success of the project through Self Help Groups (SHGS) of farmers is noteworthy in Nagaon district where the immigrant farmers are sharing the spoils.
One of the significant outcomes of the project is that the beneficiary SHGS have been able to cultivate four crops for adopting mechanized farming method with the help of the power tiller.
In areas, where there is scope of farm mechanization, there is a need to improve finance availability on products like combine harvesters, transplanters, balers etc loans to value needs to improve. Tendency to seek mortgage security must do away with.
To follow Save and Grow Approach : The save and grow approach which draws partly on conservation agriculture should be followed. Conservation agriculture technology refers to either do away with or minimize ploughing and tilling, thus preserves soil structure and health.
Plant residues provide over fields and cereals cultivation is rotated with legumes. Legumes being atmospheric nitrogen (N=N) fixers due to the presence of rhizobia in their nodules enrich the soil with this nutrient.
Other techniques developed by FAO and its partners over the past several years as part of the save and grow toolkit includes precision irrigation. Precision irrigation delivers more crops for the drop and precision placement of fertilizers, can double the amount of nutrients absorbed by the plants.
Integrated Pest Management : Integrated pest management, whose techniques, discourage the development of the pest population and thereby, minimizes the need for pesticides. This is another key element which stands elaborated in a new book published by FAO’s Plant Production and Protection Division titled “Save and Grow”.
It is concluded from the above findings that aforesaid methods of crop cultivation help to adapt crops to climate change. And not only grow more food but also assist to reduce crops water needs by 30 per cent and energy costs by up to 60 per cent (Annonymous, 2011)
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