ศูนย์นวัตกรรมเทคโนโลยีหลังการเก็บเกี่ยว

Food problems and outlook in India.

Rao, K. P.;

JIRCAS International Symposium Series Year: 1998 Issue: No. 6 Pages: 63-72 Ref: 9 ref.

1998

บทคัดย่อ

This paper focuses on India's food problems and food supply outlook. It discusses the situation of India's food grain production, input use in agriculture, food availability and accessibility, food intake and deficiencies, agricultural and food policies, and the future outlook for the supply of food. Food grain production in India has increased a little faster than the population growth rate since Independence, resulting in a steady increase in per caput daily availability of food grains from 395 g in 1951 to just above 500 g in 1995. The Union and State Governments built an elaborate system of procurement and public distribution to improve physical access of people to food. Efforts were also made to improve the economic access of poor people to food through schemes to supply food grains at less than economic cost and to generate short-term employment in the slack seasons of labour demand. Yet, about a quarter of the population is estimated to be under-nourished, along with the attendant problem

s of nutrient deficiencies, disease and high infant mortality rates. India has attained self-sufficiency in food grains but now faces the problems of land degradation, water scarcity, excessive use of agrochemicals in intensive agriculture and high postharvest losses. With the possibility of expanding cultivation into new areas virtually exhausted, and the grain yields from the Green Revolution tapering off, the sustainability of further growth in food grain production is questioned by some analysts. The country may be able to avert large scale imports in the near future through better management of resources, increased investment and possible breakthroughs in technology, but the scale of the task is huge.