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Food Security and issue of buffer stock

World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future- World Bank, UN Environment Programme and UN Development Programme. Status of food security and nutrition report by UN info on moderate and severe food insecurity More than 820 million people in the world are still hungry challenge of achieving the Zero Hunger target by 2030.   Global level undernourishment level slightly below 11 percent. Southern Asia is the highest sub region with almost 15% of prevalence of undernourishment. Over 2 billion people (26.4 percent of world population) do not have regular access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food and these live in low- and middle- and high-income countries 17.2 percent of world population, or 1.3 billion people , have experienced food insecurity at moderate levels.   9.2 percent of the world population (or slightly more than 700 million people) were exposed to severe levels of food insecurity in 2018, implying reductions in the quantity of food consumed to the...

Storage and Transport

Issues and constraints  NAFED wasted over half of its onion buffer stock due to poor storage, at a time when government is importing tonnes of onion to keep prices at check. Central Institute of Post-Harvest Engineering and Technology (CIPHET), the annual harvest and post-harvest losses of major food grains ranges from 4.65 to 5.99% of total production .Post-harvest losses occur due to unscientific storage, insects, rodents, micro-organisms etc World Bank Report (1999), post-harvest losses in India amount to 12 to 16 million metric tons of food grains each year , an amount that could feed one-third of India's poor On an average, Indian farmers incur Rs 92,651 crore per year in post-harvest losses , the primary causes of which are poor storage and transportation facilities. Ashok Dalwai committee an investment of Rs 89,375 crore—a figure marginally lower than the annual post-harvest losses—is all it takes to improve the state of storage and transportation facilities for food crops f...

Animal Rearing

ANIMAL HUSBANDRY SECTOR Livestock plays an important role in Indian economy. About 20.5 million people depend upon livestock for their livelihood. contributed 16% to the income of small farm households as against an average of 14% for all rural households . provides livelihood to two-third of rural community. contributes 31.25% of total Agriculture GDP during 2016-17. Why is livestock sector important for supplementing the farming sector? Additional source of income: Specially in the arid and semi-arid regions where livestock sector is the main source of family income. Employment even during lean agricultural season. Nutritional security: reduces rural poverty by preventing additional expenditure for food Equitable distribution: expanding demand for animal food products generates opportunities for the poor to escape poverty through diversifying and intensifying livestock production. Social security: to the owners in terms of their status in the society, which also acts as a guard aga...

Agricultural marketing

Agricultural marketing can be defined as the commercial functions involved in transferring agricultural products consisting of farm, horticultural and other allied products from producer to consumer. It includes all activities involved in moving agricultural produce through time (storage), space (transport), form (processing) and transferring ownership at various levels of marketing channels. There is considerable regional variation in methods of marketing . These processes can be broadly divided into three categories: Traditional Marketing Methods: start with sale by farmer and involve a number of intermediaries at different levels from rural markets to terminal markets. Close to 50% of the agricultural produce in India is sold via these channels. Cooperative based marketing: agri-products are directly purchased from farmers through marketing network of NAFED (National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Limited), thus eliminating middlemen. Over the course of tim...

Women Farmers

Women in Indian Agriculture The farmers’ protests have cast a spotlight on a traditionally overlooked group of female farmers. Women in Indian Agriculture Role : Women in Indian agriculture perform numerous labour intensive jobs such as weeding, picking, separation of seeds from fibre, keeping of livestock and its other associated activities like milking, etc. Mainly rural women are engaged in agricultural activities in three different ways: Paid Labourers. Cultivator doing labour on their own land. Managers of certain aspects of agricultural production by way of labour supervision and the participation in post harvest operations. Status : Agriculture Census 2015-16, female operational holdings increased to 14.0 percent in 2015-16 against and 12.8 percent in 2010-11. This indicates rising participation of females in management and/or operation of agricultural holdings in the country, also termed as feminization of agriculture The proportion of operated area managed by female operation...