AGRO-ECONOMIC RESEARCHImpact of National Food Security Mission (NFSM) on Input use, Production, Productivityand Income in Gujarat

摘要

Global agri-food systems are undergoing a rapid transformation towards higher-value products, stricter food standards and closer international and vertical integration. The ramifications for trade flows, industry structure, competitiveness and socialwelfare may be far reaching but are not yet well understood. Developing countries like India in particular face technical and institutional constraints, potentially impending a successful participation in emerging value chains. This may have implicationsfor poverty, food security and sustainable development. The global food and nutrition security is in question today with ever-increasing food prices resulting from adverse climatic effects on agricultural production, rise in oil prices, increasing use of grains for biofuels and significant reduction in public spending on agricultural sector over the last three decades. At the same time, world has experienced an unprecedented increase in population during the past century, with a billion people added every decade during the last three decades alone. Thus, changes in food availability, rising commodity prices and new producer-consumer linkages have crucial implications for the livelihoods of poor and food-insecure people. In fact, global food prices witnessed a very sharp increase in 2007 and they continue to rise. Initially it was thought that the increase in food prices was a part of their cyclical nature, aggravated by the adverse impact of weather on production in some parts of the world. However,the continuing surge and the high level of global food prices seen so far till 2008 make it abundantly clear that the recent trend cannot be attributed to any volatility of international prices and there are fears that food prices may stay at these levels or may rise even further. The increase has been particularly very sharp for staple foods. Since 2007, two rounds of food price hikes have contributed to millions of people being hungry or malnourished. These increases in prices of staple foods have ledto emergencies and rationing in a large number of countries and there are frequent reports of food riots from various parts of the globe, particularly in underdeveloped and developing countries, and the picture isturning gloomier day by day. This is causing worldwide concern.