Major Challenges and Prospects of Food Security System in India

Economic Reforms and Food Security

Part 1 Concept and elements of food security: The concept of food security - why food insecurity?, famines and relief what about the future? - elements of food security. Part 2 Production and supply: food staple and cereal production consumption self-sufficiency ratios adequacy of consumption food security status filling the consumption gap variability of food prices. Part 3 Factors contributing to domestic production: sources of growth and variability of production - an overview the regional setting resource base and environmental concerns input supply credit research and extension marketing pricing and distribution manpower women and household food security traditional crop development. Part 4 Entitlement: distribution of landholdings landlessness and near-landlessness land reform - an answer to access and landlessness? poverty, employment and real wages household coping strategies emergency food relief emergency production support for rehabilitation general and targetted approaches to food assistance evolution of food aid by use stabilization of prices and income micro-enterprises livestock and fisheries production participation - a key to entitlement food entitlement and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Part 5 The macro-economic environment and food security: internal macro-economic environment external macro-economic environment internal and international structural adjustments and food security the world beyond - North South and South-South relations. Part 6 Options for the future: general policies targetted policies at the international level regional policies. Part 7 A final word. Annexes: country groups growth rates food security index (food supply status, food supply trends, food production trend) internal balance status of developing countries nominal and real agricultural interest rates external balance status of developing countries export prices of cereals and soybeans export prices of selected food commodities, 1985-88 long-term net aggregate flows and net transfers to developing countries employment.

Rural people have the indigenous knowledge of processing and preserving food to ensure household food security during times of food scarcity. Although indigenous knowledge plays an important role in ensuring household food security for many rural households, it is often overlooked as a solution to address food and nutrition insecurity. The main objective of the study was to identify and document indigenous food preservation and processing techniques used by rural women to ensure household food security. Qualitative data were collected from small-scale farming households in seven villages through focus group discussions, individual interviews, and observations. The researchers adhered to ethical considerations (approvals, permissions with the relevant authorities, consent from participants, their privacy, anonymity, and confidentiality) throughout the research process. Data were analysed using thematic content analysis. The results indicate that sun-drying and fermentation were the most commonly used methods for food preservation, while the most prevalent methods used for processing vegetables (merogo) involved cooking, mashing, pelleting and sun-drying. Crops, such as mung beans, bambara groundnuts and sorghum are threshed and winnowed to remove all impurities. The seeds, which are to be used in the next planting season, are treated with aloe ash to prevent pest infestation. Indigenous fruits are gathered from the wild and eaten as snacks. Indigenous dried vegetables (merogo) and fermented marula beer were sold to generate income that is used to buy other basic food items. The paper concludes by highlighting the existing indigenous knowledge that rural households demonstrate in terms of food processing and preservation. Given the existing knowledge and the commonly used methods for preserving and processing food, it is crucial to create awareness regarding ways of retaining nutrients during food preservation and processing to ensure availability and proper utilisation of indigenous foods for household food security purposes. The study recommends that these methods, including ways of retaining nutrients, be documented and made easily accessible for rural households to use now and in the future for ensuring household food and nutrition security. Therefore, there is a need for agricultural and food security policies to embrace, adopt, promote and adapt indigenous knowledge and technologies to address food security. Key words: indigenous knowledge, food preservation, food processing, food security, indigenous food preservation

The study of alcohol abuse is relatively new in Brazil. Government estimates suggest that 11.2% of the Brazilian population is alcohol dependent. Problems associated with alcohol dependence include domestic violence, increased risk of traffic accidents, poor self-esteem and weak academic performance. A factor known to correlate with alcohol abuse in 12-17 year olds is to have the money necessary to purchase alcoholic beverages. No data is available, however, on the price of alcoholic beverages. The objective of the present study was to provide data on price and to compare the price of alcoholic beverages to basic food items in the Brazilian diet. We also had interest in studying a population in the northeast region of Brazil. This region is the poorest in Brazil, has the highest percentage of alcohol dependency and is seldom the focus of research on dependency. We report that the prices of many alcoholic beverages are less than the price of basic food items. Prices of alcoholic beverages including beer, wine and spirits were compared to the prices of select food items as represented in the Food Pyramid. Food items were selected from the categories of Grain, Dairy, Fruit, Meat and Vegetable. Data was gathered from 32 supermarkets in 8 cities in the northeast state of Paraiba. The price of alcohol is generally less expensive than most basic food group items, especially brands of cachaca (a spirit distilled from sugar cane) and beer. Data on price should be considered in any alcohol dependency program in Brazil.

The most difficult thing to understand may be income tax, this paper explores the concept of value added tax (VAT) with respect to the most controversial treatment of basic food items. This paper does not pretend to cover everything about VAT, but some specifics that addresses the imperatives which are; Nigerian Value Added Tax system and its position on basic food items, constitution and taxing powers, VAT and Sales Tax, Legal framework VAT Act 2007 (as amended), VAT revenue sharing formula in Nigeria, VAT Rate in Nigeria, taxable person and Registration for VAT, VAT and its exceptions, food and basic food items, major controversies on basic food items, rendering of account, determination of chargeable value added tax, offences and penalties. Methodology used in arriving at the conclusion was content analysis, which employs the review of relevant books and articles on the subject of VAT, reader would learn basic concepts in VAT and fully understand those factors determine basic food items and how these factors do influences VAT returns.

The current global health crisis has disrupted the whole world creating inter-related challenges of hunger, malnutrition, and food insecurity. Food systems all over the world are under huge stress. The supply chains have been disrupted, consumers are facing problems of accessing even basic food items and paying higher prices for some foods. Sri Lanka took early actions to limit the COVID-19 imposing curfew from time to time for nearly over two months. The majority of people were under home hostage. Schools and universities were closed. Those who are working in various professions stopped reporting to offices physically and started working from home. However, similar to many other countries, Sri Lanka wanted agriculture safely running as an essential business in the country to continue the food supply for markets and consumers. Though freedom was fully granted for the farmers to engage in their agricultural production activities irrespective of lockdown condition imposed in the country, farmers started to face various other problems for receiving agricultural inputs, fulfilling harvesting activities and postharvest preparations, transporting harvests to markets and even finding the right market for the products. Labour shortage mainly due to movement restrictions, social distancing rules, and illness started to impact producers, processors, traders, and others in supply chains. Farmers lost their regular markets and worried about harvesting their current crop and planting for the next season. Export bans and import restrictions created problems of reaching people the needed food items and paying unnecessarily for certain food items (e.g. turmeric powder). At the same time, loss of income and remittances limited people’s purchasing ability. People who carried out small businesses earned daily wages and served in contract basis jobs in certain firms and small-scale entrepreneurs were in more economical crisis and facing serious problems of securing their families with sustainable food supply and consumption.

Ensuring a sufficient level of food for the population in both quantitative and qualitative terms is a priority for most countries as well as for governmental and non-governmental bodies – be they national, regional or international. The United Nations (UN) stresses the fact that one of the biggest problems the world is facing today is food insecurity. Most people enjoy food security, but the reverse is an unquestionable daily reality for nearly a billion people around the world. The concept of food security has had different meanings at different times, the definition changing over the years but the fundamental concept behind it remaining the same. When defining food security, we have to adopt a comprehensive approach, taking into account the economical, political, social and cultural factors that shape it, as well as find practical solutions to ensure its continued existence. Thus, resolving the food problem and ensuring food security must start from studying the relationship between consumption needs and the available food resources, rely on anthropometric research methods, and target population segments according to their biological needs. Starting from the study of the conceptual framework offered by the specialized literature, the present paper aims to clarify and identify the aspects which lie at the basis of studying the food security / insecurity for a population, through exploratory research. The exploratory research of an individual’s food and nutritional security allows for a profound understanding of the concept, the factors that affect it and the interdependence between them, it also ensures a qualitative information gathering process. The results of the study may develop into measures aimed at improving individual food security as part of national food security. This research is done through the method of survey among the students of the Faculty of Business and Tourism, part of the Academy of Economic Studies. The statistical tool used was a questionnaire to identify the nutritional status of the respondents, but also their eating habits. Starting from the necessity of correcting imbalances in the behaviour related to food consumption, our scientific approach can be used to establish solutions for improving food consumption at the individual level, as a dimension of food security, for a segment of the population in Romania.

Abstract: This research will examine two important issues in relation to Islamic boarding schools. The first issue is related to ecology and the second issue is related to food and energy security, to be precise at the Riyadul Jannah Islamic Boarding School, Pacet, Mojoketo. This Islamic boarding school has long developed organic farming, such as rice, vegetables and fisheries in a well-systemized manner. Starting from the upstream (selection of planting, planting, maintenance) to the downstream (distribution) is well conceptualized. This research focuses on three research focuses, namely 1) What is the concept of ecology, food security and energy at the Riyadul Jannah Islamic Boarding School, Pacet, Mojoketo. 2) How is the ecology, food security and energy implementation of the Riyadul Jannah Islamic Boarding School, Pacet, Mojoketo? 3) How is the impact of agriculture with the concept of ecology, food security and energy for Riyadul Jannah Islamic Boarding School, Pacet, Mojoketo? This research uses a qualitative approach with a case study design. The case study design was chosen because the researcher wanted to see this contemporary phenomenon (ecology, food security and energy) as a whole.

Using a modified behavioural approach, this chapter examines organic and conventional farmers’ relationship with the concept of food security. The World Food Summit (1996) defined food security as existing: ‘when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life’. Additionally, the concept is commonly thought of as including both physical and economic access to food that meets people’s dietary needs as well as their food preferences. In recent decades, food security has been usually associated with developing countries (Frow et al., 2009). This chapter, however, is primarily concerned with aspects of food security in the UK and thus a European model which expects farmers to provide other societal benefits such as biodiversity, environmental protection and food safety. Such a model aims to satisfy consumers’ demand for ‘healthier and more flavoursome food of higher nutritional value, produced by more environmentally friendly methods’ (Brunori & Guarino, 2010). This chapter is based on the proposition that the attitudes and behaviours of organic farmers may differ from those of conventional farmers, especially in relation to farming, the environment and food security. A second proposition is that farming systems towards the organic end of the agricultural spectrum may appeal first and most strongly to farmers already attuned to environmental ideas. The chapter aims to compare the perceptions, attitudes and behaviours of those farmers loosely labelled ‘organic’ and ‘conventional’ in central southern England, especially in relation to their attitudes and values towards farming, the environment and food security. More specifically, the research has the following supporting and interrelated objectives:  To evaluate the different environmental cognitions of farmers towards selected key themes related to the concept of food security.  To investigate and assess the environmental perceptions, attitudes and behaviours of conventional and organic farmers, in central southern England, towards organic farming and the development of more environmentally-friendly farming practices. Global food prices, of many major food and feed commodities, have increased significantly in recent years (House of Commons, 2009). For example, during 2007 the price of many basic

The recent economic crisis has dramatically increased the number of people who live close to or below the poverty level in our cities. Thus, in recent years, a number of groups of citizens have promoted diverse initiatives to provide food to people at socio-economic risk. Among the best known and more widely distributed initiatives are food banks and soup kitchens. Although each of these organizations will function in different ways, both of them offer food free of charge to persons in need (sent by charities or social services), whether packaged to be taken home (food banks) or hot to be consumed at the premises (soup kitchens). In most cases beneficiaries cannot choose the types of food they are given because these organizations give out what they have. Receiving free food may be humiliating for many people, in addition to preventing them from having a balanced diet which may result in malnutrition. Social supermarkets are an interesting alternative to these initiatives. Basic food items are offered at a substantially reduced price to selected persons and families at socio-economic risk who pay for the food items they choose. In Spain, the number of these solidarity food markets has increased substantially in the last few years in an attempt to offer a more dignifying access to basic foods. In October 2014 the first National Congress of Spanish Social Supermarkets was held. In addition to food items, most of them offered a variety of services, such as nutrition education for better health through balanced diets, and otherwise help become integrated in society. An overview of these food markets will be presented.

Food and water security: Analysis of integrated modeling platforms

Numerous food donation applications like ShareThe-Meal [1], Food Need [2], Waste No Food [3], etc., do not specify how food quality can be verified. The quality of food donated could be compromised. This report aims at verifying the quality of food donated to orphanages. The work described in this paper aims to provide authentic information regarding food quality. It also provides a platform to connect catering services and volunteers who carry out the process of food donation to the required beneficiaries. Sensors like MQ2 and MQ135 are used to detect freshness of food. Eclipse IDE, SQLYOG are used to develop the interactive platform. One of the major assumptions made is that the predicted food sensor values are based on samples collected from a few basic food items. It is highly unfeasible to ensure that the classification of food as spoilt or unspoilt is inclusive of all possible food items. This work allows us to assume the categorization of food quality based on only few basic food items. This work aims at a high rate of detection with regard to classification of food as SPOILT or FRESH. The methodology involves the detection of Carbon Monoxide(CO),Ammonia(NH3) and Benzene(C6H6) values in food. The mechanism involved in this work would definitely ensure the quality of food before it is donated to the orphanage.

The concept of food security is dynamic and ever-changing. This article tries to highlight the concept of food security and its changing dimensions with respect to space and time. The article examines the shift of the concept from aggregate food availability, which is a function of domestic agricultural production, trade and food aid focusing on the supply side, to food accessibility which is a function of income or purchasing power focusing on the demand side. The analysis here also incorporates other dimensions of food security such as food stability, food utilization, food vulnerability, food sustainability, risk measurement, anthropometry, etc. Moreover, apart from providing a comprehensive picture of the evolution of the different dimensions of food security historically, the present article also tries to present the involution of the concept of food security in such a way the that it can be easily understood. Also reviewed here are the indicators and measurement processes that are currently being used by scholars of different organizations and institutions for the analysis of food security. The article concludes that the concept of food security is a dynamic and vital phenomenon and there is no benchmark or standard method to measure food security. Thus, researchers and policy makers should very judiciously choose the indicators while keeping in mind what dimension of food security they are going to deal with.

In Sub-Saharan Africa the food supply, determined by the performance of a largely subsistence and poorly structured agriculture, remains dependent on the climatic conditions. In such situation, the training on food and nutrition and the need of curricula review processes in agricultural higher education is an important issue. The present study aimed to assess the embodiment of the concept of food security in the agricultural department of the NAZI BONI University. The department was audited using the AIFSHE tool, and a total of fifty persons attended the audit. A survey was also carried out at university and research levels where three hundred and twenty eight persons responded, and a focus group discussion was done during a workshop where a total of one hundred and fifteen stakeholders participated. The results of the audit showed good results, about the network of the university and the educational methods and pedagogy. However, the vision and strategy for food security in the country are implicit and not well defined in the university documents. The surveys reported that the curricula and research topics contained very few aspects of food security. The workshop proposed that students should be allowed in the design of food security curricula and that the food security mission at university level should be clearly defined in an integrated coordinated manner by involving many ministries, to ensure a well-balanced approach to its dimensions. With respect to research, it was highlighted that the university could focus its research activities in the area of agricultural extension in order to contribute to improving food consumption at household level and the population welfare, with the best utilisation of national funding. The findings of the study imply that agricultural higher education has a key role to play to contribute to the achievement of food and nutrition security in the country, and therefore, policy makers should give opportunities and facilities to these institutions.

The concepts of food security and food sustainability are two main paradigms in the food system discourse—however, they are often addressed separately in the scientific literature. We argue that this disconnect hinders a coherent discussion of sustainability transitions, which will be necessary to solve problems (environmental, social, economic, and health) generated by conventional food systems. Our review highlights linkages between sustainability transitions and food and nutrition security using the perspective of sustainable food systems. We explore the diversity of food security narratives and food sustainability paradigms in the agro‐food arena, analyze relations between food security and food systems sustainability, and suggest options to foster a transition toward sustainable food systems. It is widely acknowledged that food systems sustainability must entail long‐term food and nutrition security in its availability, access, utilization, and stability dimensions. For food systems to deliver food and nutrition security for present and future generations, all their components need to be sustainable, resilient, and efficient. These linkages between food sustainability and food and nutrition security intersect at global, national, local, and household levels. Different strategies can be pursued to foster sustainability transitions in food systems: efficiency increase (e.g., sustainable intensification), demand restraint (e.g., sustainable diets), and food systems transformation (e.g., alternative food systems). Creating sustainable food systems requires moving from an agriculture‐centered to a food system policy and research framework. This will be fundamental to foster the complex and holistic transformation necessary to achieve sustainable food systems, which is, in turn, a prerequisite to achieving sustainable food and nutrition security.