ROLE OF COOPERATIVES IN FOOD SECURITY

SUBJECT- ECONOMICS

Presentation Structure:
The Cooperatives are also playing an important role in food security in India especially in the southern and western parts of the country. The country. cooperative societies set up shops to sell low priced goods to poor

"For now I ask no more than the justice of eating."

Pablo Neruda, Chilean Poet, Noble Prize Winner

Hunger remains the No.1 cause of death in the world. Aids, Cancer etc. follow. 42% of worlds under-nourished children live in India. -Global Hunger Index,2010 Over 200 million Indians will sleep hungry tonight. Over 7000 Indians die of hunger every day.
Sources :
-UN World Food Programme -UN World Health Organization: Global Database on Child Growth and Malnutrition, 2006 -UN Food and Agriculture Organization: SOFI 2006 Report -National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector (India) -National Family Health Survey 2005 06 (NFHS-3) (India) -Centre for Environment and Food Security (India)

Alarming situation

India has the largest food schemes in the World.

Entitlement Feeding Programmes
ICDS (All Children under six, Pregnant and lactating mother) MDMS (All Primary School children) Targeted Public Distribution System (35 kgs/ month of subsidised food grains Annapurna (10 kgs of free food grain for destitute poor) Antyodaya Anna Yojana

Food Subsidy Programme

Employment Programmes

National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (100 days of employment at minimum wages)

National Old Age Pension Scheme (Monthly pension to BPL) National Family Benefit Scheme (Compensation in case of death of bread winner to BPL families)

Social Safety Net Programmes

Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana Rajiv Gandhi Drinking Water Mission

Are we really food short?

INDIAN AGRI-BUSINESS:FACTS AND FIGURES 2nd largest arable land(184 million hectares) in the world. Largest irrigated land(55 million hectares) in the world. Largest producer of : Wheat(15% of global production) Pulses(21% of global production) Milk(90 million tones). Largest producer and exporter of spices. 2nd largest producer of rice(22% of global rice production) and the largest producer of worlds best BASMATI RICE. Largest livestock population. 2nd largest producer of fruits and vegetables.
source: FICCI, Ministry of Agriculture(2008)

So why are we food insecure??

MAPLECROFT : Food Security Risk Index India 25/148 China 107/148 GLOBAL HUNGER INDEX: a world wide survey carried out by International Food Policy Research Institute (USA) India 67/84 Pakistan 52/84 China- 19/84
Source:www.yojana.gov.in

Sustainable food security

The three dimensions of this problem need concurrent attention:

Availability of food Access to food Absorption of food in the body

Production Storage Distribution

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Production
Current Status : Self sufficient. Disturbance in the equilibrium : Natural calamities, fiscal emergencies. Suggestions: 1. Reach of modernization to the real farmers in form of seeds, fertilizers & irrigational facilities. 2. Exploiting the perennial and non-perennial water resources to the optimum level. 3. Bringing more land under the cultivable area.

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Procurement
MINIMUM SUPPORT PRICE 5Applicable on 25 crops, visible only for 2. 5Benchmark for other varieties(which might be of inferior quality) of the same crop.

GOVERNMENT CREATED HOARDING 5Excessive subsequent stocking. 5Scarcity in the open market. 5Parliament-clearance issues.

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Minimum support price for essential commodities

Crops Wheat Rice Maize Arhar Moong Urad Soyabean Sugarcane

Fiscal year Fiscal Year Fiscal Year 2006 2010 2011 650 570 540 1400 1520 1520 900 79.50 1100 950 840 2300 2760 2520 1350 129.84 NA 1000-1030 880 3000 3170 2900 1400 139.12
Source: Ministry of Agriculture 12

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Storage
oLagging storage capacity.

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Cold chain logistics

Indias cold storage capacity short by 10 million tones. 30% of the fruits and vegetables gets wasted annually(40 million tones amounting to US$13 billion) -Maheshwar and Chanakwa(2006) India expenditure on logistics activities-equivalent to 13% of the GDP(higher than the developed nations) Key reasonshigher level of inefficiencies in the system lower average trucking speeds higher turnaround times at ports cost of administrative delays

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Governments mammoth task: Food Security Bill

Difference between speech and action of the government. Tussle between the NAC and the PMO.  NAC recommendations seldom accepted without any improvement.

It is the fate of most advisory committees that the government accepts whatever advice suits its purposes and ignores the rest. - Jean Dreze, National Advisory Council

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Some possible solutions

MSP should be made last resort for the farmer. The government should provide direct subsidies to the farmers in the form of seeds, fertilizers, irrigation. Procurement schemes should be widened to other crops and areas. Procurement schemes should be closed ended. Government should enable farmers to sell directly on the electronic spot exchanges.

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Distribution
Inefficient existing methods of identifying and thus, targeting the needy. Leakages, corruption. Insufficient awareness and information. Facts and figures o 58% of the distributed food-grains does not reach the beneficiaries. oAccording to a survey,65.9 million people were BPL in the year 2009 and the BPL Cards issued crossed the 100 million mark.

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A presentation by C.Maheshwar, Fleet Management Training Institute, Mumbai

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A not so perfect public distribution system

oMisuse of the schemes by non-needy. oLoopholes in the existing system. oNeed a better targeting mechanism. Identification of poor Keeping the criteria simple and easy to implement. motorized vehicle, landline with a bill, electricity connection with a bill, a job in an organized sector, a registered piece of land, etc. are NOT BPL. Social audits for the remaining families through community councils. Inspiration from other states where PDS has been successfully experimented with many additional features.

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Lets be a part of the solution

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Conclusion o Production is more or less doing good;

always can and have to be bettered though. oThe procurement policies, storage facilities and the distribution mechanism need revamping. oIndividual initiatives vital in this fight against food insecurity.

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References
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article75033.ece http://www.nfsm.gov.in http://www.hindu.com/2010/12/11/stories/201012116498030 0.htm http://www.yojana.gov.in/topstory_details.asp?storyid=145 http://india.gov.in/citizen/agriculture/crop_market.php http://www.indianexpress.com/news/nac-sticks-to-its-gunson-food-law/740780/ http://news.outlookindia.com/item.aspx?663772 http://www.indianmba.com/Faculty_Column/FC1075/fc1075 .html http://www.asianage.com/india/bogus-bpl-card-holdersasked-surrender-854 Kurukshetra Anaj Mandi Registrar Office

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