Analysis of micro indicators on food security: India

Population: 1.1 billion GDP per capita: $2,600 Agriculture: 17.6 percent of GDP Agricultural Production: rice, wheat, oilseed, cotton, jute, tea, sugarcane, potatoes, cattle, water buffalo, sheep, goats, poultry, and fish Major Agricultural Exports: cotton, oil meals, rice, marine products, sugar, paper/wood products, and spices Major Agricultural Imports from U.S.: tree nuts, cotton, pulses, fresh fruit, planting seeds, hides and skins, and vegetable oils (excluding soybean oils) Source: USDA BACKGROUND INFORMATION

According to the International Food Policy Research Institute’s 2011 Global Hunger Index:2011 Global Hunger Index  60 million children in India are underweight & malnourished  21 percent of the population in general is malnourished.

Prevalence of undernourishment PoU (survey) PoU (SOFI) DEC (survey) DES (SOFI) MDER India Rural Urban

Depth of food deficit* Scale Depth of hunger (kcal/person/day) National275.1 Rural273.3 Urban308.8 *Calories needed to lift the undernourished from their status, ceteris paribus

Food acquisition at the national level

Food acquisition by sector

Food acquisition by male and female headed households A. MaleB. Female

Share of DE provided by macronutrients ItemProteinFatsCHO & ALC National Sector Rural Urban Gender Male Female

Share of macronutrients in main food groups consumed

Presentation of the survey and limitations of the food consumption data

Indian National Sample Survey (NSS) A. Description  Set up by the GOI in 1950 to collect socio-economic data  Conducted every 5 years  66 th Round (July 2009 to June 2010)  Period of survey divided into 4 sub rounds in 3 months duration  Covered whole of Indian Union except for interior villages of Nagaland and Andaman and Nicobar Islands  Total no. of HHs : 100, 855 B. Food consumption data  Recall of daily food items consumed (last 30 days)  Quantities in kilograms  Values in LCU (Rs.)  Number of food items: 146

Limitations  Consumer expenditures survey  Absence of data on anthropometric measures, income & no. of food partakers  Short reference period (1 month) ~ recall errors  Seasonal variation not accounted for  Food source codes overlap  Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Lakshadweep did not participate in the 66 th round survey.  FCT for India is not available

Recommendations  Include anthropometric measures, income and number of food partakers  Longer reference period to account for seasonal variability in consumption  Clear distinction among food sources  Reconstruct country NCT once FCT becomes available