Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T00:16:58.091Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

2 - Food Security in India: Policies and Options

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Surabhi Mittal
Affiliation:
Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER)
Surabhi Mittal
Affiliation:
Senior Fellow, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER)
Deepti Sethi
Affiliation:
Research Assistant at Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER)
Get access

Summary

Introduction

The Economic reforms since 1991 have transformed India into one of the fastest growing economies, with an average annual GDP growth rate of about 7 per cent for the past two decades. In terms of output, the agricultural sector accounts for about 15.7 per cent of GDP while the service and industrial sectors contribute 56.5 per cent and 28 per cent respectively. However, India still suffers from high levels of poverty, illiteracy, disease, and malnutrition. About 50 per cent of the world's hungry live in India and around 35 per cent (350 million) are considered food insecure, consuming less than 80 per cent of minimum energy requirements.

After the Green Revolution in mid-1960s, India has made tremendous progress with respect to food security and self sufficiency. It has emerged as one of the leading producers of rice, wheat, pulses, fruits, vegetables, milk and other commodities. In the last couple of decades, certain changes have been observed in the agricultural sector. With huge population pressure, although the foodgrain production has more than quadrupled, the per capita foodgrain availability had remained a cause of concern. The sector has also seen an imbalance at the macro level with declining share of agriculture in GDP but the population dependence on this sector for livelihood still remains as high as 60 per cent. This implies that a declining per capita income of the population of this sector has further implication on the food and nutrition security of the population in the agricultural sector.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Foundation Books
Print publication year: 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Food Security in India: Policies and Options
    • By Surabhi Mittal, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER)
  • Edited by Surabhi Mittal, Senior Fellow, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), Deepti Sethi, Research Assistant at Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER)
  • Book: Policy Options to Achieve Food Security in South Asia
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/UPO9788175969223.003
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Food Security in India: Policies and Options
    • By Surabhi Mittal, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER)
  • Edited by Surabhi Mittal, Senior Fellow, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), Deepti Sethi, Research Assistant at Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER)
  • Book: Policy Options to Achieve Food Security in South Asia
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/UPO9788175969223.003
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Food Security in India: Policies and Options
    • By Surabhi Mittal, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER)
  • Edited by Surabhi Mittal, Senior Fellow, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), Deepti Sethi, Research Assistant at Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER)
  • Book: Policy Options to Achieve Food Security in South Asia
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/UPO9788175969223.003
Available formats
×