Back to: MBOSE Social Science Class 10

A crop is a plant or plant product that can be grown and harvested for profit or subsistence. By use, crops fall into six categories: food crops, feed crops, fiber crops, oil crops, ornamental crops, and industrial crops. Food crops, such as fruit and vegetables, are harvested for human consumption.

The two most important cereal crops in India are rice and wheat. Crops can be divided into (a) Food Crops and (b) Non Food crops

Rabi season : Rabi crops are sown in winter from October to December and harvested in summer from April to June. Some of the important rabi crops are wheat, barley, peas, gram and mustard. These crops are grown in large parts of India, states from the north and north – western parts such as Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh are important for the production of wheat and other rabi crops. Availability of precipitation during winter months due to the western temperate cyclones helps in the success of these crops. 

 Kharif season: Kharif crops, which are also known as monsoon crops, are the crops which are grown during the monsoon or rainy season (June to October). Their seeds are sown at the beginning of the monsoon season and the crops are harvested at the end of the monsoon season.  Kharif crops depend on the rainfall patterns. The timing and quantity of rainwater are the two important factors that decide the output of Kharif crops.  Important crops grown during this season are paddy, maize, jowar, bajra, tur(arhar), moong, urad, cotton, jute, groundnut and soyabean.

 Zaid season: In between the rabi and the kharif seasons, there is a short season during the summer months known as the Zaid season. Some of the crops produced during ‘zaid’ are watermelon, muskmelon, cucumber, vegetables and fodder crops.

Differentiate between kharif and rabi cropping seasons.

Kharif Cropping Season	Rabi Cropping Season
Kharif crops are the crops which are sown at the beginning of the rainy season, e.g. between April and May.	Rabi crops are the crops that are sown at the end of monsoon or at the beginning of winter season, e.g. between September and October.
These crops are known as monsoon crops.	These crops are also known as winter or spring crops.
These crops depend on the rainfall patterns.	These crops are not affected by the rainfall.
Major Kharif crops are rice, maize, cotton, jowar, bajra etc.	Major Rabi crops are wheat, gram, peas, barley etc.
It requires a lot of water and hot weather to grow.	A warm climate is required for seed germination and cold climate for the growth of crops.
Flowering requires shorter day length.	Flowering requires longer day length.
Harvesting months from September to October.	Harvesting months from March to April.

Rice is a Kharif crop and it is staple crop of majority of Indians. The geographical conditions required for growth of Rice are as follows:

• Temperature should be16°C – 27°C.
• High levels of humidity and rainfall above 100cm are required.In the areas of less rainfall it grows with the help of irrigation.
• Rice can grow in variety of soils including stilts, loads, and gravels but it grows well in alluvial soil with a sub – soil of impervious clay.
• Plain land or gentle slopes are ideal for growth of rice. Because stagnancy of water is a must for the cultivation of rice.
• Rice is grown in the plains of North and North – Eastern India, costal areas and the deltaic region.
• India is the second largest producer of rice in the world after China.

The regions cultivating rice crop in India is distinguished as the western coastal strip, the eastern coastal strip, covering all the primary deltas, Assam plains and surrounding low hills, foothills and Terai region- along the Himalayas and states like West Bengal, Bihar, eastern Uttar Pradesh, eastern Madhya Pradesh, northern Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. In some of the states like West Bengal, Assam and Orissa two crops of rice are raised in a year. 

Summer, autumn and winter rice crops are raised in West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Assam and Orissa.

West Bengal is the highest rice production state in India.

Wheat is the 2nd most important food crop of India. It is the crop of temperate region. In India it is grown in winter. It is more dependent on climate than soil. The geographical condition required for Wheat Cultivation are mentioned below:-

• Temperature: Wheat requires 14° to 18°C temperature. High temperature is harmful for the cultivation of wheat.
• Rainfall: 50 cm to 100 cm rainfall is required for wheat cultivation. In the primary stage cold moisture rich climate and at the time of harvesting bright hot climate is required.
• Soil: Fertile alluvial soil or mixed soil is ideal for wheat cultivation.
• Land: Plain land or gentle slope is ideal for wheat cultivation.

Major wheat growing states in India are Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Gujarat. Wheat is the main food crop of north and north western part of India.

Conditions required for the growth of sugarcane: India is the largest sugarcane producing state in the world though her per-hectare production is lower than Cuba. Sugar cane is a product of the tropical or Sub-tropical countries and temperate lands. The climatic conditions for Sugarcane are mentioned below:

Temperature: Sugarcane is a tropical plant, therefore, requires a year warm weather to reach maturity. The areas having temperature of 20° to 26°C is suitable for its cultivation.

Rainfall: 100 cm to 175 cm rainfall is ideal for sugarcane production. In tropical and sub-tropical or regions sugarcane is grown abundantly due to the lengthening of the period of rainy season. In many areas water is partly supplemented by the canals. Much sunshine is required, particularly at the end of the growing season, to produce cane with high sugar content.

Soil: Sugarcane grows well in alluvium and light-clay soil. Moist clay-loam with good drainage is the best soil for cane. As the crop is a valuable one large amount of fertilizers are used to increase the yield. Sugarcane cultivation also needs suffi­cient capital and labour.

Land: Plain land or gentle slope is ideal for sugarcane cultivation. 

Uttar Pradesh is the largest producer of sugarcane in India, followed by Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

Main beverage crop in India: Tea is the most important beverage crop of India.

Major areas of tea plantation: India is the second largest producer of tea in the world, producing an average 900,000 tons each year which is next to China, the top tea producer.

Largest tea producing state in India is Assam. Other Tea-producing states in India are West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Sikkim, Nagaland, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Bihar and Odisha.

Important fiber crops in India: Cotton, jute, hemp and natural silk are the four major fibre crops grown in India. The first three are derived from the crops grown in the soil, the latter is obtaioned from cocoons of the silkworms fed on green leaves specially mulberry.

Cotton is the most used natural textile fiber across the globe. It is the most accessible fiber for people everywhere, whose use dates back to the prehistoric times. In addition, it is also the most preferred material for personal care and home furnishing items and so, it is called a universal fiber.

Climatic conditions required for the production of cotton

1. Temperature: Cotton needs a warm climate. Summer temperatures of 21°C to 27°C, and abundant sunshine are necessary during the growth of the plant. A long growing period of atleast 210 frost-free days is also necessary for the plant to mature.
2. Rainfall: Moderate to light rainfall is adequate for cotton cultivation. Rainfall ranging between 50 cm to 80 cm is adequate. The crop can be successfully grown in areas of low rainfall with the help of irrigation.
3. Soil: Cotton can be grown on a variety of soils but the black cotton soil of the Deccan Plateau which has the ability to retain moisture is most suitable. It also grows well in alluvial soils of the Satluj-Ganga Plain.

Areas of Production: The leading cotton producing states are Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh. Punjab and Haryana grow the long staple variety.

Jute is known as the Golden Fibre. That’s an appropriate name for the yellowish brown, shiny, natural vegetable fibre produced from plants of genus Corchorus. It occupies place next to cotton in the amount produced and the variety of uses.

Different types of farming :

1.  Subsistence Farming: The whole family works on the farm. Most of the work is done manually. The farms are small. Traditional methods of farming are followed. Yield is not very high. Most of the yield is consumed by the family with very little surplus for the family.

2.  Shifting Agriculture: In this type of agriculture, first of all a piece of forest land is cleared by felling trees and burning of trunks and branches. After the land is cleared, crops are grown for two to three years and then the land is abandoned as the fertility of the soil decreases. The farmers then move to new areas and the process is repeated. Dry paddy, maize, millets and vegetables are the crops commonly grown in this type of farming.
The per hectare yield is low. This practice is known by different name in different regions of India like Jhum in Assam, Ponam in Kerala, Podu in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha and bewar masha penda and bera in various parts of Madhya Pradesh. As far as possible governments have tried to discouraged is practice of cultivation by tribals due to wasteful nature such as soil erosion caused by it, when soil erosion caused by it, when soils are not under cultivation.

Features of Shifting Agriculture: A clearing is made in the forest by cutting and burning of the trees.Seeds are planted in the ground. This type of cultivation does not involve ploughing the soil or other agricultural practices. After two or three years, the clearing is abandoned as the yield decreases owing to weeds, soil erosion and loss of soil fertility. Then a fresh clearing is made and the community migrates of that area.This is a wasteful method of cultivation.

3. Plantation Agriculture: Plantation farming is bush or tree farming. It was introduced by the British in the nineteenth century. It is a single crop farming of rubber, tea, coffee, cocoa, spices, coconut and fruit crops like apples, grapes, oranges, etc. It is capital intensive and demands good managerial ability, technical know-how, sophisticated machinery, fertilisers, irrigation, and transport facilities.

Some of the plantations like tea, coffee and rubber have a processing factory within the farm itself or close to it. This type of agriculture has developed in hilly areas of north-eastern India, sub-Himalayan West Bengal and in Nilgiri, Anamalai and Cardamom hills in peninsular India.

4.  Intensive Farming: In areas where irrigation has been possible, the farmers use fertilisers and pesticides on large scale. They have also brought their land under high yielding variety of seeds. They have mechanised agriculture by introducing machines in various processes of farming. These have led intensive farming where the yield per unit area is high. In some areas, this has led to the development of dairy farming.

5. Commercial Farming: Commercial farming is the farming method in which plant and livestock production is practiced with the intention of selling the products on the market. Because of the high labour required in subsistence agriculture, it is a labour-intensive technique.

Distinguish between intensive subsistence farming and commercial farming

Intensive Subsistence Farming	Commercial Farming
This type of farming is practiced in areas of high population pressure on land.	This type of farming is practiced in areas of low population density.
Farmers and his family produce mainly cereal crops for subsistence of the family and for local market.	Crops are grown in large scale for commercial purposes, and for export to other countries.
It is a labour intensive agriculture.	It is capital intensive requiring high application of modern inputs.
Farms sizes are small and uneconomical due to fragmentation of land holding on account of “right of inheritance’	Farm sizes are large for use of modern machineries and for large scale productions.
Farmers try to take maximum output from the limited land in absence of alternative source of livelihood.	Farmers earn huge profits from commercial agriculture due to sale of crops.
Farmers use high dose of biochemical inputs and irrigation to increase productivity.	Modern inputs like high-yielding variety (HYV) seeds, chemical fertilizers, insecticides and pesticides are used to obtain higher productivity.
Cereals like rice , wheat, millets are mainly grown	Wheat, Cotton, Sugarcane, Oilseeds, tea and coffee are grown.
It is practiced in most parts of India, mainly in east and south even today.	This type of farming is mainly practiced in Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Western Uttar Pradesh.

Distinguish between primitive subsistence farming and commercial farming

Primitive Subsistence Farming	Commercial Farming
It is practiced on small patches	It is practiced on large scale.
Farming depends on irrigation	Irrigation facilities are available .
Primitive tools are used	Modern technology is used.
Production is low	Production is high.
No costly fertilizers are used.	Chemical fertilizers are used.
Family members provide labour.	Labourers are hired.
Only cereals and other food crops are grown	Commercials crops are grown

Shifting cultivation is also known as Slash or Burn agriculture. A small area of land is cleared and the vegetation is burned, providing a source of nutrients from the ashes. Farmers practice shifting cultivation using simple and primitive methods. When the soil’s fertility is exhausted, the tribe moves on and clears another area in the forest.

That is being used in the region of the hill areas of that is the North-Eastern Region, Sikkim, Bihar, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, and Maharashtra. On the side of North-East India, the type of shifting cultivation is known as the ‘Jhum’ cultivation or ‘Jhumming’

Disadvantages of Shifting Cultivation:

• Shifting cultivation leads to global warming, because it causes carbon emission and thus contributes to climate change. 
• Shifting cultivation does not cause deforestation but forest modification. The clearance of forest causes deforestation which accelerates soil erosion and accentuates the variability in rainfall distribution.
• The primary disadvantage of shifting cultivation, also called slash and burn or jhum agriculture, is the destruction of large areas of land, primarily crop fields and tracts of forest. When performed improperly, slash and burn can make once-fertile lands unable to support the new growth of crops and plants.

Advantages of Shifting Cultivation

• Shifting cultivation is a form of agriculture which involves clearing of a plot of land by cutting of trees and burning them. This method helps to eliminate weeds, insects and other germs effecting the soil.
• Shifting cultivation allows for farming in areas with dense vegetation, low soil nutrients content, uncontrollable pests. Meanwhile, in shifting cultivation, trees in the forests are cut. 

The Green Revolution, or the Third Agricultural Revolution is referred to as the process of increasing agricultural production by incorporating modern tools and techniques. It is the period when agriculture of the country was converted into an industrial system due to the adoption of modern methods and techniques like the use of high yielding variety seeds, tractors, irrigation facilities, pesticides, and fertilizers. 

Until 1967, the government majorly concentrated on expanding the farming areas. But the rapidly increasing population than the food production called for a drastic and immediate action to increase yield which came in the form of the Green Revolution. 

Subject Matter of Green Revolution: The new agricultural strategy was adopted in India during the Third Plan, i.e., during 1960s. As suggested by the team of experts of the Ford Foundation in its report “India’s Crisis of Food and Steps to Meet it” in 1959 the Government decided to shift the strategy followed in agricultural sector of the country.

Thus, the traditional agricultural practices followed in India are gradually being replaced by modern technology and agricultural practices.

During the period of mid-1960s, Prof. Norman Borlaug of Mexico developed new high yielding varieties of wheat and accordingly various countries started to apply this new variety with much promise. Similarly, in the kharif season in 1966, India adopted High Yielding Varieties Programme (HYVP) for the first time.

This programme was adopted as a package programme as the very success of this programme depends upon adequate irrigation facilities, application of fertilizers, high yielding varieties of seeds, pesticides, insecticides etc. In this way a new technology was gradually adopted in Indian agriculture. This new strategy is also popularly known as modern agricultural technology or green revolution.

As the new HYV seeds require shorter duration to grow thus it paved way for the introduction of multiple cropping, i.e., to have two or even three crops throughout the year.

Farmers producing wheat in Punjab, Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi started to demand heavily new Mexican varieties of seeds like Lerma Rojo, Sonara-64, Kalyan and P.V.-18. But in case of production of rice, although new HYV varieties of seeds like T.N.-l, ADT-17, Tinen-3 and IR-8 were applied but the result was not very much encouraging. Some degree of success was only achieved in respect of IR-8.

Following are some of important features of Green Revolution:

• Revolutionary: The Green revolution is considered as revolutionary in character as it is based as new technology, new ideas, new application of inputs like HYV seeds, fertilizers, irrigation water, pesticides etc. As all these were brought suddenly and spread quickly to attain dramatic results thus it is termed as revolution in green agriculture.
• HYV Seeds: The most important strategy followed in green revolution is the application of high yielding variety (HYV) seeds. Most of these HYV seeds are of dwarf variety (shorter stature) and matures in a shorter period of time and can be useful where sufficient and assured water supply is available. Thus seeds also require four to ten times more of fertilizers than that of traditional variety.
• Confined to Wheat Revolution: Green revolution has been largely confined to Wheat crop neglecting the other crops. Green revolution was first introduced to wheat cultivation in those areas where sample quantity of water was available throughout the year through irrigation.
• Presently 90 per cent of land engaged in wheat cultivation is benefitted from this new agricultural strategy. Most of the HYV seeds are related to wheat crop and major portion of chemical fertilizer are also used in wheat cultivation. Therefore, green revolution can be largely considered as wheat revolution.
• Narrow Spread: The area covered through green revolution was initially very narrow as it was very much confined to Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh only. It is only in recent years that coverage of green revolution is gradually being extended to other states like West Bengal, Assam, Kerala and other southern states.

Introduction of new agricultural strategy in India has certain arguments in its favour. These are as follows:

• India being a vast agricultural country the adoption of intensive approach is the only way to make a breakthrough in the agricultural sector within the shortest possible time.
• Considering the food crisis faced by the country during 1960s it was quite necessary to adopt this new strategy for meeting the growing requirement of food in our country.
• The introduction of HYVP programme has been able to raise the agricultural productivity significantly, thus this new agricultural strategy is economically justified.
• The agricultural inputs required for the adoption of new strategy is scarce thus it would be quite beneficial to adopt this strategy in a selective way only on some promising areas so as to reap maximum benefit from intensive cultivation.
• Adoption of new strategy has its spread effect. Reaping a good yield through HYVP would induce the other farmers to adopt this new technique. Thus due to its spread effect the overall productivity of Indian agriculture would rise.
• Increased agricultural productivity through the adoption of new strategy will have its secondary and tertiary effects. As the increased production of food through HYVP would reduce food imports and thus release scarce foreign exchange for other purposes. Moreover, increased production of commercial crops would also lead to expansion of agro-based industries in the country, especially in the rural areas.

Impact of Green Revolution: Introduction of new agricultural strategy or green revolution has created huge impact on the economy of the country. These are discussed below:

• Increase in Agricultural Production: Due to the adoption of new agricultural strategy the volume of agricultural production and productivity has recorded manifold increase. The production of wheat, rice, maize and potatoes has increased substantially. Total production of foodgrains in India increased from 81.0 million tonnes (annual average) during the Third Plan to 264.8 million tonnes in 2013-2014. This has become possible due to the introduction of Special Foodgrains Production Programme (SFPP) and the Special Rice Production Programme (SRPP).
• Increasing Employment Opportunities: The introduction of new agricultural strategy has led to considerable expansion of agricultural employment. Due to the introduction of multiple cropping, job opportunities in the rural areas has also expanded as the demand for hired workers required for farm activities increased simultaneously.
• Strengthening the Forward and Backward Linkages: Although traditional linkages between agriculture and industry were existing since a long back, but green revolution has strengthened the linkages. Strong forward linkage of agriculture with industry was noticed even in the traditional agriculture as agriculture supplied various inputs to industries.  But the backward linkage of agriculture to industry, i.e., in the form of agriculture using finished products of industry, was very weak. But introduction of modern technology to agriculture has raised a huge demand for agricultural inputs now produced and supplied by industries.

Thus, modernisation of agriculture and development of agro-based industries has strengthened both forward and the backward linkages between agriculture and the industry.

• Increase in Regional Disparities: Introduction of new technology in agriculture has widened the regional disparities as only some regions well endowed with resources and irrigation potential have benefitted most from the introduction of modern technology. The regions of Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh derived the benefits of new agricultural strategy. But the agriculture of the remaining more than 80 per cent of the cropped area of the country is still depending on vagaries of the monsoons in the absence of irrigation facilities.
• Inter-Personal Inequalities: Green revolution has created some impact on inter-personal inequalities. But economists; are divided on this issue. Some micro level studies reveal that inter-personal inequalities have enlarged but some other studies show that the degree of inter-personal inequalities have either narrowed down or remained neutral.
•  No response from Small and Marginal Farmers: Small and marginal farmers in India could not be able to adopt new strategy due to their poor financial condition and poor creditworthiness. Majority of rural household having small size of land or no land has derived negligible benefit from this new technology.
• Market Oriented: Introduction of new technology in agriculture has transformed the farmers market oriented. Indian farmers are mostly depending on market for getting their inputs as well as for selling their output. Moreover, farmers are also depending much on institutional credit available in the market to meet cost of adoption of new technology.
• Change in Attitudes: Green revolution has contributed favourably to change the attitudes of farmers in India. Agricultural operation has enhanced its status from subsistence activity to commercial farming due to the adoption of new strategy.Wolf Ladejinsky observed that, “Where the ingredients for new technology are available, no farmer denies their effectiveness. The desire for better farming methods and a better standard of living is growing not only among relatively small number of the affluent using the new technology, but also among countless farmers still from the outside looking in”.

The evidence of qualitative changes in attitudes can be observed from the short and long term investment decision of the farmers, i.e., increasing application of current inputs like HYV seeds, fertilizer, pesticides etc. and their investment in tube-wells, pump sets for irrigation.

• Unwanted Social Consequences: Green revolution has also raised certain unwanted social consequences. Various socio-economic studies have confirmed these consequences. Green revolution paves the way for transforming a large number of tenants and share-croppers into agricultural labourers due to large-scale eviction of tenants by large farmers as they find large-scale farming is highly profitable.

Weaknesses of Green Revolution: Following are some of basic weaknesses of new agricultural strategy:

• Adoption of new agricultural strategy through IADP and HYVP led to the growth of capitalist farming in Indian agriculture as the adoption of these programmes were very much restricted among the big farmers, necessitating a heavy amount of investment.
• The new agricultural strategy failed to recognise the need for institutional reforms in Indian agriculture.
• Green revolution widened the disparity in income among the rural population.
• New agricultural strategy alongwith increased mechanisation of agriculture created a problem of labour displacement.
• Green revolution widened the inter-regional disparities in farm production and income.
• Green revolution has led to some undesirable social consequences arising from incapacitation due to accidents and acute poisoning from the use of pesticides.

What is White Revolution: White Revolution was one of the biggest dairy development movements, by the Indian Government, in India in 1970. It was a step taken by the Indian Government to develop and help the dairy industry sustain itself economically by developing a co-operative, while providing employment to the poor farmers.

The White Revolution helped increase milk productivity and milk was now sold at competitive market prices. This program increased the demand for development and production of healthy animals, use of modern technology in milk production sector and networking between various small and large scale dairy industries.

The White Revolution followed after the success of the Green Revolution and the aim of White Revolution was to make India one of the largest milk producers in the world.

How did the White Revolution started: The White Revolution, known as Operation Flood, was launched in 1970. It was an initiative by India’s National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and was the world’s biggest dairy development programme. It transformed India from a milk deficient nation into the world’s largest milk producers.

Operation Flood was based on the experimental pattern set up by Verghese Kurien, chairman and founder of AMUL, who was named the Chairman of NDDB and was also recognised as the architect of Operation Flood.

Under Verghese Kurien, the programme created national milk grid linking producers throughout India with consumers in over 700 towns and cities, reducing seasonal and regional price variations and ensuring that the milk producers get a major share of the income generated from end consumers, by forming co-operatives.

Father of the White Revolution: – Verghese Kurien was the father of the White Revolution. He founded Amul, one of the largest milk producing companies in India. Kurien, along with his friend H. M. Dalaya invented the process of making milk powder and condensed milk from buffalo milk. Many companies were started under his leadership and former Prime Miniter Lal Bahadur Shastri created the National Dairy Development Board based on Amul’s management, resource and infrastructure arrangements.

Phases of the White Revolution in India

Phase 1: This phase started in July 1970 with the objective of setting up dairy cooperatives in 18 milk sheds in 10 states. They were to be linked with the four best metropolitan markets. By the end of this phase in 1981 there were 13,000 village dairy cooperatives covering 15,000 farmers.

Phase 2: It aimed at building on the designs of phase 1 and on the assisted Dairy development programmes in Karnataka, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. By the end of this phase in 1985 there were 136 milk sheds, 34,500 village dairy cooperatives and over 36 lakh members.

Phase 3: This phase emphasized on consolidating the gains of the earlier two phases by improving the productivity and efficiency of the dairy sectors for long term sustainability. It ended in 1996 and by that time there were 73,300 dairy cooperatives and over 9.4 million farmer members.

Advantages of White Revolution

• It ended the imports of milk solids in India and India started exporting milk powder to many foreign nations.
• Dairy industries and infrastructures modernized and expanded. Around 10 million farmers earn their income from dairy farming.
• Dairy needs are met locally.
• Genetic improvement of milking animals has increased due to cross breeding.

As per the Economic Survey (2018-19), India needs to take big initiatives to improve its food security as it faces supply constraints, water scarcity, small landholdings, low per capita GDP and inadequate irrigation.

Food security, as defined by the United Nations’ Committee on World Food Security, means that all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their food preferences and dietary needs for an active and healthy life.

Food security is the combination of the following three elements:

• Food availability 
• Food access 
• Food utilization

Food security means to safeguard the availability, accessibility and affordability of food for every citizen of India through buffer stock preserved by FCI. Food security depends, on the Public Distribution System (PDS) and government vigilance and time to time action, when this security is threatened.

The 1995 World Food Summit declared, “Food security at the individual, household, regional, national and global levels exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life”. The declaration further recognises that “poverty eradication is essential to improve access to food”.

Food Security is Important for a Nation:-

• For boosting the agricultural sector.
• For having a control on food prices.
• For economic growth and job creation leading to poverty reduction
• For trade opportunities
• For increased global security and stability
• For improved health and healthcare

The two components of the food security system are

• BUFFER STOCK-It is the stock of food grains procured by the food cooperation of india.it mainly stores rice and wheat.
• PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM-The food stored by the food cooperation of india is then redistributed by the PDS to the poorer sections o f the society.

Food security is needed in a country to ensure food at all times. It is needed to ensure that no person in a country dies of hunger.

Effect of Natural Calamity on Food Security: Most of the time, the poorest section of society might be food insecure. But persons above the poverty line might also be food insecure when the country faces a national disaster/calamity like earthquake, drought, flood, tsunami, widespread failure of crops causing famine, etc.- The total production of food grains decreases due to a natural calamity. It creates a shortage of food in the affected areas. The price of the food products goes up due to this shortage. At high prices, some people cannot afford to buy food. If such calamity happens in a very wide area or is stretched over a longer time period, it may cause a situation of starvation. Massive starvation might take a turn of famine. Thus, natural calamity affects food security adversely.

Food Security in India

• Food security concerns can be traced back to the experience of the Bengal Famine in 1943 during British colonial rule, during which about 2 million to 3 million people perished due to starvation.
• Since attaining independence, an initial rush to industrialize while ignoring agriculture, two successive droughts in the mid-1960s, and dependence on food aid from the United States exposed India’s vulnerability to several shocks on the food security front.
• The country went through a Green Revolution in the late 1960s and early 1970s, enabling it to overcome productivity stagnation and to significantly improve food grain production.
• Despite its success, the Green Revolution is often criticized for being focused on only two cereals, wheat and rice; being confined to a few resource abundant regions in the northwestern and southern parts of the country that benefited mostly rich farmers; and putting too much stress on the ecology of these regions, especially soil and water.
• The Green Revolution was followed by the White Revolution, which was initiated by Operation Flood during the 1970s and 1980s. This national initiative has revolutionized liquid milk production and marketing in India, making it the largest producer of milk.
• Of late, especially during the post-2000 period, hybrid maize for poultry and industrial use and Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) cotton have shown great strides in production, leading to sizeable exports of cotton, which made India the second largest exporter of cotton in 2007–2008.

Concerns of Food Security in India

• India, currently has the largest number of undernourished people in the world i.e. around 195 million.
• Nearly 47 million or 4 out of 10 children in India do not meet their full human potential because of chronic undernutrition or stunting.
• Agricultural productivity in India is extremely low.
  According to World Bank figures, cereal yield in India is estimated to be 2,992 kg per hectare as against 7,318.4 kg per hectare in North America.
• The composition of the food basket is increasingly shifting away from cereals to high⎯value agricultural commodities like fish, eggs, milk and meat. As incomes continue to rise, this trend will continue and the indirect demand for food from feed will grow rapidly in India.
• According to FAO estimates in ‘The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, 2018” report, about 14.8% of the population is undernourished in India.
  Also, 51.4% of women in reproductive age between 15 to 49 years are anaemic.
• Further according to the report 38.4% of children aged under five in India are stunted (too short for their age), while 21% suffer from wasting, meaning their weight is too low for their height.
• India ranked 76^th in 113 countries assessed by The Global Food Security Index (GFSI) in the year 2018, based on four parameters—affordability, availability and quality and safety.
• As per the Global Hunger Index, 2018, India was ranked 103rd out of 119 qualifying countries.

Challenges to Food Security

• Climate Change: Higher temperatures and unreliable rainfall makes farming difficult. Climate change not only impacts crop but also livestock, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture, and can cause grave social and economic consequences in the form of reduced incomes, eroded livelihoods, trade disruption and adverse health impacts.
• Lack of access to remote areas: For the tribal communities, habitation in remote difficult terrains and practice of subsistence farming has led to significant economic backwardness.
• Increase in rural-to-urban migration, large proportion of informal workforce resulting in unplanned growth of slums which lack in the basic health and hygiene facilities, insufficient housing and increased food insecurity.
• Overpopulation, poverty, lack of education and gender inequality.
• Inadequate distribution of food through public distribution mechanisms (PDS i.e. Public Distribution System).
  
  
  • Deserving beneficiaries of the subsidy are excluded on the basis of non-ownership of below poverty line (BPL) status, as the criterion for identifying a household as BPL is arbitrary and varies from state to state.
• Biofuels: The growth of the biofuel market has reduced the land used for growing food crops.
• Conflict: Food can be used as a weapon, with enemies cutting off food supplies in order to gain ground. Crops can also be destroyed during the conflict.
• Unmonitored nutrition programmes: Although a number of programmes with improving nutrition as their main component are planned in the country but these are not properly implemented.
• Lack of coherent food and nutrition policies along with the absence of intersectoral coordination between various ministries.
• Corruption: Diverting the grains to open market to get better margin, selling poor quality grains at ration shops, irregular opening of the shops add to the issue of food insecurity.

Recent Government Initiatives

National Food Security Mission

• It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme launched in 2007.
• It aims to increase production of rice, wheat, pulses, coarse cereals and commercial crops, through area expansion and productivity enhancement.
• It works toward restoring soil fertility and productivity at the individual farm level and enhancing farm level economy.
• It further aims to augment the availability of vegetable oils and to reduce the import of edible oils.

Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY)

• It was initiated in 2007, and allowed states to choose their own agriculture and allied sector development activities as per the district/state agriculture plan.
• It was converted into a Centrally Sponsored Scheme in 2014-15 also with 100% central assistance.
• Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) has been named as Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana- Remunerative Approaches for Agriculture and Allied Sector Rejuvenation (RKVY-RAFTAAR) for three years i.e. from 2017-18 to 2019-20.

Objectives: Making farming a remunerative economic activity through strengthening the farmer’s effort, risk mitigation and promoting agri-business entrepreneurship. Major focus is on pre & post-harvest infrastructure, besides promoting agri-entrepreneurship and innovations.

• Integrated Schemes on Oilseeds, Pulses, Palm oil and Maize (ISOPOM)
• Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana
• E-marketplace: The government has created an electronic national agriculture market (eNAM) to connect all regulated wholesale produce markets through a pan-India trading portal.
• Massive irrigation and soil and water harvesting programme to increase the country’s gross irrigated area from 90 million hectares to 103 million hectares by 2017.
• The government has also taken significant steps to combat under- and malnutrition over the past two decades, through
• The introduction of mid-day meals at schools. It is a Centrally-Sponsored Scheme which covers all school children studying in Classes I-VIII of Government, Government-Aided Schools.
• Anganwadi systems to provide rations to pregnant and lactating mothers, Subsidised grain for those living below the poverty line through a public distribution system.

Food fortification: The National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013, legally entitles up to 75% of the rural population and 50% of the urban population to receive subsidized food grains under the Targeted Public Distribution System.

The eldest woman of the household of age 18 years or above is mandated to be the head of the household for the purpose of issuing of ration cards under the Act.

International Organizations involved in ensuring Food Security

Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO)

• Established as a specialized agency of the United Nations in 1945.
• One of FAO’s strategic objectives is to help eliminate hunger, food insecurity, and malnutrition.

World Food Programme (WFP)

• Founded in 1963, WFP is the lead UN agency that responds to food emergencies and has programmes to combat hunger worldwide.

International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)

• Founded in 1977, IFAD focuses on rural poverty reduction, working with poor rural populations in developing countries to eliminate poverty, hunger, and malnutrition.
• It is a specialized agency of the United Nations and was one of the major outcomes of the 1974 World Food Conference.

World Bank : Founded in 1944, the World Bank is actively involved in funding food projects and programmes.

• United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP): It was established in 1972 as the international arm providing guidance and governance to environmental issues. One of the topics that UNEP addresses currently is food security.

Steps to be taken to Ensure Food Security: The government policy needs to adopt an integrated policy framework to facilitate agriculture productivity.

• The measures should focus mainly on rationale distribution of cultivable land, improving the size of the farms and providing security to the tenant cultivators apart from providing the farmers with improved technology for cultivation and improved inputs like irrigation facilities, availability of better quality seeds, fertilizers and credits at lower interest rates.
• Aeroponics and hydroponics are systems that allow plants to be grown without soil. Plants grown in this way take in water and nutrients efficiently. These methods can be used in the areas of poor soil quality and soil erosion.
• Adoption of crops and techniques with lower water requirements, such as the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) method of rice production, contributes to resilience by enabling equal or better yields to be achieved with less water withdrawal.
• Planting crops with lower water requirements and agricultural practices that maintain soil moisture, such as maintaining vegetative cover between crops, can also contribute to resilience.
• Crop diversification: Higher profitability and stability in production highlight the importance of crop diversification, e.g. legumes alternative with rice and wheat. Growing of non-cereal crops such as oilseeds, fruits and vegetables etc need to be encouraged.
• Strategies for better food storage should be adopted.
• The Blue Revolution: Sea, lakes and rivers can be used to provide food and nutrition. Fish are a very good source of protein and do not require good soil.
• Biotechnology and appropriate technology: Selective breeding or genetic modification (GM) of plants and animals can be done to produce specific features and adaptations. For example, selective breeding has been used on dairy cows to increase milk yields. GM has been used on wheat to produce crops that are disease resistant.
• Existing direct nutrition programmes should be revamped to enable management by women’s Self Help Groups (SHGs) and /or local bodies along with orientation and training of community health workers, Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI) members, other opinion leaders, caregivers and other stakeholders can be another area.
  • Efforts should be made by the concerned health departments and authorities to initiate and supervise the functioning of the nutrition related schemes in an efficient way.
  • Annual surveys and rapid assessments surveys could be some of the ways through which program outcomes can be measured.
  • Focus needs to be shifted to the workers in the informal sector by providing decent wages and healthy working conditions.
• Local community education on key family health and nutrition practices using participatory and planned communication methodologies will be helpful.
• The cooperatives play an important role in food security in India especially in the southern and western parts of the country. The cooperative societies set up shops to sell low priced goods to poor people. The cooperatives should be encouraged.
• Fostering rural-urban economic linkages can be an important step towards ensuring food security by-
• enhancing and diversifying rural employment opportunities, especially for women and youth,
  • enabling the poor to better manage risks through social protection,
  • leveraging remittances for investments in the rural sector as a viable means for improving livelihoods

FCI is the abbreviation of Food Corporation of India. On 14 January 1965 FCI was formed. What is the role of Food Corporation of India in food security?

FCI was established under the FCI Act of 1964 with an objective of safeguarding the interests of poor farmers, distributing the food grains across the country, maintaining a sustainable level of food grains as Buffer Stock.

• FCI purchases food grains mainly from surplus states such as Punjab, Haryana and supplies them to deficit states. For example wheat is transported from Haryana, Punjab to Goa.
• A minimum support price is fixed by the government of India on which the purchase of food grains is done, but if a farmer gets more than MSP he is free to sell it wherever he wants.
• The supply of food grains for Mid day meal scheme ( Primary and upper Primary), APL ( Above poverty line),( Below poverty Line) BPL and other schemes ( SABLA, WBNP) is done by FCI.
• The Supply of Food grains to army is also done by FCI.

Minimum Support price: Minimum Support Price is the price at which government purchases crops for the farmers, to safeguard the interests of the farmers and MSPs are announced at the beginning of the sowing season for certain crops based on the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP).

MSP for various agricultural commodities is decided by the govt after taking into account the recommendations of CACP, views of state Govts, views of Ministries etc and various factors like Cost of Production, Input-Output Price Parity, Inter-crop price parity, an effect on cost of living, international price situations etc are also taken into consideration.

Procurement Price: It is the price at which govt purchases the crop after harvesting, the main difference between Procurement Price and MSP is that MSP is declared before sowing while PP is declared after harvesting.

Since 1968-69 there is no practice of declaring separate Procurement Price and MSP is usually considered as the Procurement Price.

The procurement agencies step in to procure the crop and support the prices when the market price falls below the MSP and the procured farm products are kept in government warehouses and distributed through the PDS and various food security programmes; FCI (Food Corporation of India), the nodal central agency of Government of India, along with other State Agencies undertakes procurement of wheat and paddy.

Issue Price: The price at which the procured and buffer stock food grains are provided through the PDS is called an issue price, in other words, the Price at which the FCI sells the food grain for PDS consumption is known as Issue Price.

Globalization: Globalization is the word used to describe the growing interdependence of the world’s economies, cultures, and populations, brought about by cross-border trade in goods and services, technology, and flows of investment, people, and information.

Three types of globalization:

• Political
• Social
• Economical

Impacts of globalization on Indian agriculture:  Globalization has thrown open Indian market to the world. Agricultural produces can easily be imported to India and India can export its products to other countries. Consequently, Indian farmers are facing a big challenge from international competitions. Due to globalization the Indian farmers might have to force much unstable prices for these products fluctuated largely on year to year basis.