World Food Day is celebrated on October 16 in honour of the date of the founding of the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations in 1954. This is a day of action against hunger. The theme for this year is ‘Social protection and agriculture: Breaking the cycle of rural poverty’. Social protection, defined by the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, is concerned with preventing, managing and overcoming situations that adversely affect people’s wellbeing. Social protection consists of policies and programmes to reduce poverty and vulnerability by promoting efficient labour markets and diminishing people’s exposure to risks and enhancing their capacity to manage economic and social risks.
The world's population is likely to reach 9.1 billion by 2050. The FAO estimates that by 2050, global food demand will increase by 70 per cent. This is going to put tremendous pressure on already scarce land and water resources implying an urgent need for an alternative way to combat food shortages.
About 73 per cent of the world populations have no access to adequate social protection. A majority of them live in the rural areas of developing countries and many of them depend on agriculture for a living. Poor rural households are already constrained by limited access to resources, low agricultural productivity and poorly functioning markets.
Hunger is a global problem. The cost of food is rising. Despite a substantial increase in food grain production since Independence, India is still classified as a low-income food-deficit country. A recent United Nations annual hunger report says India is placed at top in the world hunger list, surpassing China. India ranks 135th out of 187 countries in the 2014 UNDP Human Development Index and 55th out of 76 countries in the Global Hunger Index.
*Odisha has been put in the category of severely food-insecure regions. It has been pointed out that severe food insecurity in Odisha is primarily due to the presence of vulnerable rural population who are basically Scheduled Caste & Scheduled Tribe with poor and marginal livelihood assets or livelihood susceptible to natural disasters. The average tribal have less than two acres of land, from where they produce food for five to six months. For rest of the period, they depend on forest products and the Public Distribution System (PDS) rice. With incomes insufficient to buy food, many of the households are in debts and in the food-insecure category. In many areas the poor tribals migrate to neighbouring States for work.
Agriculture is the main driver of economic development. Higher agriculture productivity can positively impact poverty reduction by increasing rural incomes and reducing food prices. Most of India's poor live in rural areas and are engaged in agriculture. Agriculture contributes nearly one-fifth of the gross domestic product (GDP). To improve the rural economy, the Government has planned several programmes.
As per the 2011 Census, 83.3 crore Indians live in rural areas and 37.7 crore in urban areas. Rural development has great significance for India as 69 per cent of the people live in rural areas.
*Of the total population of Odisha, around 83.32 per cent live in rural areas and 16.68 per cent in urban areas. As much as 85% of the State's populations are dependent on agriculture, fisheries and forestry. The State Government should facilitate agriculture through various schemes to achieve food security. Economic policies should be reoriented to provide adequate support for agriculture and its vast rural population. Besides, agriculture can provide the largest source of employment to the rural poor.
The Institute of Town Planners, India in the year 1995 conducted a study to detail out urban development plans formulation and implementation (UDPFI) guidelines. The basic purpose of the study was to arrive at a methodology of plan preparation that would not only help prepare better master plans but also achieve an integrated development of rural-urban areas. The UDPFI guidelines suggest various institutional support mechanisms that would help in achieving rural-urban integration. Adequate infrastructure such as transportation, communication, energy and basic services is the backbone of the urban-rural development linkage approach.
Adequate investments in infrastructure, particularly transportation infrastructure, also improve rural productivity. Development policies that facilitate these rural-urban linkages can promote economic growth and poverty reduction. Policies that increase growth in agriculture and promote rural-urban linkages have the potential to reduce poverty. Small urban centres, on the one hand, are ‘market towns’ that offer markets and services for local agricultural producers and retail and service provision for their populations and the surrounding populations. The areas can be well-positioned to positively influence rural development and agricultural productivity. Regional food systems should be strengthened through inclusion of efficient and accessible markets and distribution systems in urban planning and design. The National Food Security Act, 2013 aims to provide subsidised food grains to approximately two-thirds of India's people. The Act is a milestone in the history of India’s fight against hunger and malnutrition as it empowers more than 800 million Indians (75% of the rural and 50% of the urban population living below and just above the poverty line) to legally claim their right to highly subsidised staple foods.
The land is the basic need for food security. City planners have a unique opportunity to facilitate and lead food security initiatives at a regional level through the decisions about the use of land. In many regions productive agricultural land has been converted to other uses. During the planning stage, planners could be involved in collection of data on regional food demand and assessment on the impact of current planning on the regional food system. Integration of agriculture with regional development can provide food to both rural and urban residents. It is imperative to adopt development control measures to safeguard agricultural land from urban sprawl. At the same time, provision of more income security and investment in rural livelihoods can improve local economic development and promote social protection.
(Dr Praharaj teaches at the Department of Architecture, College of Engineering and Technology, Bhubaneswar)