A brief study on increasing food productivity in Assam and Neighboring States

Abstract

Food production is the base for food security. The internationally accepted definition of food security is that given by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) in the Rome Declaration on World Food Security, 1996, further refined in the FAO's State of Food Insecurity in the World, 2001. “Food security [is] a situation that exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.”The availability of food is determined by production of food. According to Swaminathan given that India's population is likely to reach 1.5 billion by 2030, the challenge facing the country is to produce more and more from diminishing per capita arable land and irrigation water resources and expanding abiotic and biotic stresses. India currently produces about 230 million tones of cereals to meet the needs of a population of 1.15 billion. He has rightly remarked that ‘while calculating food requirements, the needs of farm animals are often overlooked and hence the current situation in India is that cereal production has to be doubled by 2050 in order to meet the needs of the expected population of 1.8 billion, in addition to meeting the needs of livestock and poultry.' With such a backdrop the main objective of the research paper is to suggest ways of increasing food productivity. The other objective is to ensure means of creating awareness amidst the needy ones.