Foodgrain Sufficiency Patterns in India

Abstract

T HE critical food problem in India arises primarily from a deficiency in the production of foodgrains, mainly rice, wheat, and millets, which contribute 70 to 90 percent of the total food requirements of the people.' Approximately seven out of ten persons are engaged in agriculture,2 and eight out of ten acres of cultivated land are used to produce foodgrains.3 Yet, despite the allocation of most of the country's resources to meet this need, the normal cereal requirement remains unsatisfied.4 Year after year a large part of the scarce foreign exchange, essential to buy producer goods from abroad, has been spent on importing foodgrains. The continued foodgrain deficiency in India results in approximately 80 percent of the population being undernourished.5 As early as 1944, Aykroyd estimated that even during normal crop years about 30 percent of the people lived on the verge of starvation.6 Since then the population has passed 500 million, rising by ten to twelve million each year, and the production of foodgrains, despite an occasional surplus year, has tended to lag, with the result that the food problem in India is critical and threatens catastrophy. The overall deficiency in foodgrains is a national problem, and in view of the unique