Journal of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development Vol. 3(2), pp. 29-41, February 2011 Available online http:// academicjournals.org/JAERD ISSN 2141-2154 ©2011 Academic Journals Full Length Research Paper Dimension of food security in a selected state- Uttar Pradesh Rukhsana Department of Geography, Jamia Aliah University, Kolkata 700091, India. E-mail: [email protected]. Accepted 20 November, 2009 Development agencies regard the concept of household food security-often defined as "access for all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life"-as a guiding principle for designing interventions in rural areas because poverty is the major determinant of food insecurity and achievement of food security is the goal of development. It is a known fact that the poor do not have adequate access to food in quantities needed for a healthy life, hence food security is an absolute necessity for development. In this paper, database related to food security for the Western Uttar Pradesh region of India were analysed for food security indices such as food availability, food stability, and food accessibility to classify the region. The result classify the southern portion of the western Uttar Pradesh as highest food security region; and the northern portion as low food security region due to lack of fair price shops, low level of purchasing power, lack of storage capacity and lack of food grains production. Key words: Food availability, food stability, food accessibility, food security. INTRODUCTION The present study examines the dynamism of availability fall below a certain level called a threshold, also known of food to the people. Need of food security arises as poverty line. In this definition, they do not have enough primarily due to the fluctuation in food production and income to purchase and also do not have easy access to insufficient availability of food from domestic sources. basic goods and services, such as food, clothing, Food is essential for life. It is one of the most basic housing, transportation and education (Encarta, 2005). needs. According to an ancient Hindu script 'all actions Today, availability of food is associated with purchasing stem from food - food depends on food'. Unless there is power and food insecurity is caused by poverty. If people enough food today for all – men, women, young and old, do not have purchasing power, they have substitute of the prospects for food security tomorrow are greatly food reserves. Food security and poverty are directly diminished (Singh, 2003). One of the most commonly related to each other. So the needs of the poor should be accepted definitions of food security is adequate access protected by improving their purchasing power, through to food at all times, throughout the year and from year to employment and income generation programmes year. Access is ensured when all households and all (Srinivasan, 2002). A large proportion of the world’s individuals within those households have sufficient underfed population starves not because of general food resources to obtain appropriate foods for a nutritious diet. shortage but because of insufficient access to food A minimum level of income below which a person is supplies or insufficient consuming power of people. officially considered to lack adequate subsistence and to During 2001-2002, India faced drought conditions but be living in poverty. The World Bank definition of poverty with the huge buffer stocks of foodgrains, the situation line for under-developed countries like India is US$ 1 per was under control. There are number of steps which have person per day. As per the Government of India, poverty been taken to promote food security in India. India’s for urban areas is Rs. 296 per month and for rural areas population in 1951 was 361 million with a growth rate of Rs. 276 per month that is, people who earn less than Rs. 1.3% per annum, but in 1961 the population drastically 10 per day. People are said to be poor if their incomes rose to 439 million with a growth rate of 2.16% per 30 J. Agric. Ext. Rural Dev. annum. In 1971, it jumped to 548 million with a growth resources, jobs, or social support. Thus, sustainability, rate of 2.48%. In 1981, it rose to 683 million with a growth efficiency and equitable distribution of food requires a rate of 2.13%. The production of food grains in the comprehensive approach at the country level within the country in 1999-2000 was 209 million tones and it worked available infrastructure and traditional practices so that 1 out to about 60 g per person per day. Theoretically /2 kg food is produced on a sustainable basis and is made food, if made available to each individual, is inadequate. available to the poor. Moreover, the availability of food to an individual de- pends on the purchasing power of the person concerned, otherwise it will lead to under-nutrition, malnutrition and THE STUDY REGION hunger (Shafi, 2006). Swaminathan (1995) argued that for too long, food has been considered primarily as a Keeping in view the importance of food security, the means to abolish hunger and minimum needs for most author has selected ‘Western U.P.' as an area for people, overlooking its greater role in the process of detailed study because the area under investigation is economic development. He examined the agricultural rapidly changing from agriculture to industrial activities production roles in a number of developing countries and and commercialization of crops and as a result, food focused on the present number of malnourished people. security is declining due to commercialization which has Swaminathan (1996) has studied the role of science and reduced food grain production. Western U.P. is the most technology for sustainable food security. prosperous, developed and rich in agriculture region due The agricultural productivity associated with the ‘Green to the great impact of the Green Revolution, though there Revolution’ in India has become possible with the intro- is regional variation in food security. duction of high yield variety of seeds (HYVs), irrigation The technology used by farmers is labour intensive and facilities, fertilizers and manures etc. He found that major production is mainly dependent upon the amount of goals of developing countries should be productivity labour that the cultivator is able to put. Farmer's lack of improvement, natural resource conservations and poverty knowledge about water management, soil fertility and eradication. Qamar (1996) has emphasized the public land practices is prevalent in those areas of Western U.P. distribution system in India covering about 560 million which is facing the problems of food insecurity. Western people through 135 million ration card holders. Despite U.P. lies in the upper Ganga plain, which is endowed with the financial constraints faced by the government, provi- fertile soil, level topography and suitable climatic sion has been made to safeguard the public distribution conditions. Western U.P. lies between 26° 20’ to 30° 20’ system (PDS) food security against inflations and north latitudes and 77° 45’ to 80° 22’ east longitudes. It maintain a buffer stock to ensure food security for the covers an area of about 80.076 sqkm and has a lower sections of the population. Radhakrishna (1996) population of about 61.06 million (Census of India, 2001). examined food grain production and food consumption The region includes the districts of Saharanpur, trends in India. India has achieved moderate success in Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Baghpat, Bulandshahr, Gautam combating transitory food insecurity caused by crop Bddha Nagar, Ghaziabad, Aligarh, Hatras, Mathura, failures due to droughts or floods. Ayres and McCall Agra, Firozabad, Mainpuri, Etah, Bareilly, Budaun, (1996) examined the progress in rural, agricultural deve- Shahjahanpur, Pilibhit, Bijnor, Moradabad, Jyotiba Phule lopment and food security over the past 25 years. They Nagar, Rampur, Farrukhabad, Kannauj, Auraiya and identified those groups that are going hungry still and Etawah (Figure 1). illustrated policies to improve food security, supplies, utilization and access. Suryanarayana (1997) has argued that the OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY assessments by conventional macro measures show considerable improvement in food security in India, the In view of the complexity of the problem, the aims and level of cereal consumption and calorie intake of even the objectives of the present work are as follows: general populations are still below the normal thres-hold limits. Empirical evidence is used to raise a number of 1. To determine the spatial variation of food availability, issues and recommendations are presented for an stability and accessibility in order to ascertain food emphasis on investment in human capital by way of security. improvement in food and calorie intake for efficiency and 2. To assess the spatial variation in food security economic growth. Data covered a variety of sources and 3. To examine the interrelationship between the variables aspects of food security during the period 1954 - 1992. of food security. Chaturvedi (1997) measured food security with the help of three components; availability, stability and access. MATERIALS AND METHODS Availability of enough food for all can be attained through efficient domestic production. Stability can be ensured by The raw data relating to food security (Table 1) were collected from taking appropriate pre-emptier steps. The vast majority of various published and unpublished records of government and non-