Food shortage in Belur Taluk Hassan District-A post pandemic study

Abstract

Food is the exilir of life. But there are many who during the pandemic time and after struggled for a single meal per day. To get a clear picture of the food crisis which occurred during the corona season of 2021 and in its aftermath a study was conducted in five villages of Belurtaluk. Belur and its twin place Halebeedu are heritage sites boasting of Karnataka ‘s cultural history. The sampled villages are Narayanapura, Hulikere, Lingapura,Tholalu and Vaginakere. The total sample size was 200.Though there was government run PDS fair price shops no rations were given even to ration holders. Anganwadi workers were the ones who cooked meals in grounds and village schools and fed the hungry masses. This was so because of lack of work and income in their own small land holdings. Community members who took care of their fellowmen were the ones who prepared the meals. The main communities were Gowdas, 50% Kurubas 25% and SC/ST 25%.Each community made their own meals arrangements. The target groups taken for study were small farmers with one acre or lesser than one acre. The main crops grown by them were groundnuts cowpeas and vegetables like brinjals, beans, carrots, cauliflower, cabbages, green chillies and broad beans. The study proceeded with the following objectives. A)To find out what were the main causes for food scarcity in the above sampled villages.B)To suggest a few remedial measures for removal of food scarcity. The research gap suggested difficulty in carrying out agricultural activities, small land holdings were the main drawbacks coupled with poverty which led to loss of two square meals per day.Part time working as guides in these tourist places brought some income but it was insufficient.Research Methodology used both primary and secondary data. Primary data formed the basis of the study. Secondary data was collected from articles published by previous authors and government reports.Simple random sampling was used to collect data and questionnaire method was designed to conduct face to face interviews.Descriptive analysis was followed.Measures suggested to rectify the situation to a certain extent was to bring back the agriculturelabourers to their villages and to fix minimum wages for them.Giving them BPL cards and minimum rations without missing for a single month is very beneficial to them. With food inflation on the rise though the production of important food grains such as paddy and wheat has increased manifold still hunger persisted in many villages of Belur.Abolishing pilferage of foodgrains and regulating the foodgrains marketdoing away with middlemen,are the other remedies for curbing food scarcity in Belur’s villages.