Hemchandra Saikia
(saikia.hemchandra@rediffmail.com)
We all know the three basic needs of human being that are food, cloth and shelter, and without these no one can imagine a very sustainable healthy, happy and peaceful life or civilization. So, it is the food insecurity which is the root cause of hunger and malnutrition resulting many ailments, diseases, disorder in human life across the world more prominent in developing and underdeveloped world standing as big hardship in attaining and maintaining a very healthy and sustainable human society with due peace and development. Now the entire world is confronting a great problem of hunger or starvation vis-a-vis adequate affordable, accessible balance and nutritious food which is the pre-requisite for sound, healthy and productive human resource. Here lies the importance of ensuring a sustainable food security in our valuable human society in the entire world.
According to Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO)food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. Household food security is the application of this concept to the family level, with individuals within households as the focus of concern. Now let us have a careful look on some crucial statistics concerning hunger and malnutrition affecting the very health of human life which compel entire world community to do some effective measures to sustain a due food security in our human society and these statistics entail the nature intervention demanding its effective implementation and its continuance. Firstly, according FAO more than 3 billion people (almost 40 % of the world's population) cannot afford a healthy diet. This implies that world community need to ensure food security at all time to eliminate the menace of hunger and malnutrition through adoption of some sustainable means. Secondly, it is also reported that over 2 billion people do not have regular access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food. Again malnutrition, which includes undernutrition (wasting, stunting, and underweight), inadequate vitamins or minerals, overweight, obesity, and resulting diet-related non-communicable diseases is posing a great challenge to mankind. According to WHO, globally in 2020, 149 million children under 5 were estimated to be stunted (too short for age), 45 million were estimated to be wasted (too thin for height), and 38.9 million were overweight or obese. Around 45% of deaths among children under 5 years of age are linked to undernutrition. These mostly occur in low- and middle-income countries. At the same time, in these same countries, rates of childhood overweight and obesity are rising. Hence ensuring food security is very much necessary and crucial for the greater interest of mankind in the world.
Now in paving the way for ascertaining food security for the entire population across the world following due attention, action, monitoring and evaluation may be very crucial and may yield our expected result. These may be-
1. Ensuring sustainable production of food through the exploitation of potential yield of crops and livestock etc with the adoption of a very sustainable improved method of agriculture without compromising issues of environment, ecology and bio-diversity. This is very crucial because FAO reports that more than 33% of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emission is due to the world's prevailing food systems.
2. Ensuring the prevention of food loss in entire post harvest operations and also at consumer level. Because according to FAO 14% of world food is lost due to inadequate harvesting, handling, storage and transit and at consumer level 17 % food is lost. Thus this huge food loss is really hampering the very state of food security rather aggravating food insecurity in our human society. Hence due care and effective measures must be adopted in right time and place to prevent this huge amount of food during post harvest operations through adoption of suitable and sustainable improved technologies and mass awareness besides effectively motivating mass to stop food lost during consumption.
3. Ensuring desirable remunerative price for the produce or products of agriculture and allied enterprise so that our food heroes that is farmers can lead a reasonable standard of living and reputation or respect in our society. And this is the right weapon to attract and retain our farmers and their new younger generation in continuing agriculture and thus will pave the way for right food security.
4. Ensuring right type dynamic suitable improved technologies in right time and place keeping in view the phenomenon of climate change impact. Besides all the essential infrastructures like irrigation, storage, warehouse, cold storage, electricity, transport and communication etc must be effectively available. At the same time these technologies must be easily available, affordable and accessible besides being profitable optimally.
5. Ensuring ceiling action on the conversion of agricultural or waste land to other non-agricultural use and its exploitation.
6. Market and credit facilities must be adequately favourable in paving the way for food security along with development of agro-based industries for producing vale added quality products having right and growing market demand at both domestic and foreign markets.
7. The problem of women and smallholder farmers must be addressed duly and consistently to encourage their contribution in building food security. Because smallholder farmers produce more than 33% of world's food despite their problem of poverty, lack of access to finance, training and technology (FAO). According to United Nations a quarter of the world's population work as farmers, wage earners and entrepreneurs but less than 20% land holders are women worldwide. Moreover gender pay gap is as high as 40%. Same organization opines that if rural women are ensured with same access to agricultural assets, education, and markets as men the number of hungry people could be reduced by 100-150 million.
Thus in order to ascertain right type of food security for the greater interest of mankind all the suitable and sustainable measures must be ensured in right time and place having the effective element of availability, accessibility, affordability and profitability with the participation of both institutional and non-institutional organizations besides having effective individual participation, awareness and encouragement. These measures are equally workable across different parts of the world in ensuring the very state of food security. Assam and India is no exception. Hence the celebration of World Food Day on 16th October each year across the world is very right step of UNs in addressing the determinants of food security. And FAO rightly opines that better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life. So lets hope for the best, cooperate and work for the best in building the very state of food security and ensure a beautiful and sustainable world.