"Hunger," as stated by Amartya Sen and Jean Dreze, is "intolerable in the modern world" in a way it could not have been in the past, because it is "so unnecessary and unwarranted." India is a poignant example of how food sufficiency at the aggregate level has not translated into food security at the household level. 

Despite the country making remarkable progress with the recent years witnessing the economy booming and growth rates among the highest in the world; however, one in every five Indians suffers from overt or covert hunger. 

The underlying problem of Indian agriculture that threatens food security is extremely low productivity. 

The world aims to achieve Zero Hunger by 2030 and climate change is a challenge that must be addressed in order to continue the fight against hunger and achieve this goal.  To meet such a heavy demand, agriculture and food systems will need to adapt to the adverse effects of climate change and become more resilient, productive and sustainable.

Arunachal is an agriculture based society with majority of inhabitants depending on their small land holdings for producing grains mostly to last a season or two. With no other means, failure of crops can literally spell doom for the small communities dependent on agriculture.

Though agrarian, the farming community is dwindling and the existing ones don’t produce in bulk for market consumption. Devoid of much government support and respect our farmers are abandoning this noble task and turning to other forms of employment. Farmers engaged currently are from the previous generation and even they themselves discourage their children from following in their footsteps.

If Arunachal wants food security, it must start from within rather than depending on alms from the Centre. The obvious leakages in the Public Distribution System has proved that it is no logical solution stave off starvation, therefore the farming community must be empowered and revived to carry on their practice and stay self sufficient.

Government must provide irrigation facilities, financial assistance and importantly introduce high yielding varieties of paddy etc to spike production in order to boost the morale of the farmers.  Initiative like the recently announced “Chief Minister’s Krishi Rinn Yojana” through which the state has decided to provide Zero Interest Crop loan to farmers of the state to enable them easy access to formal credit through banking channels will help resuscitate this languishing sector.

It is a shame that we have failed the very people who are feeding entire populations as they are the most deprived and it is about time that concerted efforts are made to ensure the health of our farmers.

 

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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