Local Solutions to Global Problems.
2012
Hunger & Food Supply in
Developing Countries: Case
Study-India. 2012
W
orld over millions go hungry
every day, where food prices are
soaring. Unfortunately, that’s
not the case. Over 900 million people in the
world—the majority of them in the
developing world—don’t have enough food
to eat, even though there is enough food in
the world for everyone (Canadian Food
Grains Bank). An estimated 231 million
people in India go hungry every day. Every
minute 5 Indians die of hunger i.e 2.5 million
people every year1. Why don’t have enough
to eat and stay alive? There are many factors
that affect ‘hunger’. It can be poverty,
inflation, monsoon failure, lack of
agriculture promotion, poor grain stocks,
and severe debt, unemployment etc.
However India has a unique problem. It is
surplus of food production and high rate of
hunger deaths in the world.
Union Food Ministry estimated the wastage
around 70,000 tons in 2011-12 when the
national food grain production was recorded
all time high at 250 million tons (TOI). The
alarming rise of food grain wastage is also
noted by the Consumer Affairs Ministry in a
reply to Parliament of India (IBN) and the
Food Corporation of India that manages
stocks and supplies admits that many times
the stocks are received in damaged
condition. Though the estimates are very
conservative, the reality is shocking. Transit
damages, thefts and malpractices if included
the wastage could well be estimated at 30%
1
INDIA 2011.
of production. It is often the political will
and apathy of administration (rather I say
tardy pace of work) that is perpetuating
wastage year after year.
The issue is not lack of storage or
technology. It’s of management. For
example, according to the Food Minister, FCI
is having a storage capacity of 60 million
tons across the country and as per
Agriculture Minister the stocks were 27.88
million tons.(Business Line). That is 32.18
million tons for buffer stock. Though there is
need for further storage say about 70 million
tons, it is not the question of storage alone.
It is managing the supplies reach needy.
Hence it is a matter of management and
political will to ensure that ‘the grain is not
wasted’. (India Microfinance) Post
liberalization very little has been done in this
area. Right from harvest till it reaches to the
consumer the food supply chain has
witnessed little technology up gradation.
When capitalistic ideologies overwhelm
democracy, the weakest subject gets ignored.
On the same lines when productive venture
is managed by bureaucracy it gets paralyzed
and remains inefficient. Even if we set aside
storage and wastage issues, how much food
Local Solutions to Global Problems.
grain a person needs to survive and stay
alive. If 460 grams is what required for a
person to stay alive on a given day, we need
0.42 million tons of food grains needed to let
these 2.5 million stay alive. Hence there is
need for initiatives more at micro level
before the country settles with its own
economic owes. Can there be local
alternatives to curb hunger? Yes indeed.
An experimental project under GEF(2006)
funded biodiversity initiative a local
organization has started ‘grain bank’ at
community level. Small farmers and landless
deposit grains in the bank when there is
surplus. When a household needs grain they
can collect back the grains as per their
requirement. The grain bank deducts some
percentage grain as service cost. This model
has worked so well that even in lean periods
no family stayed without food even for a day.
It ensured supply of food grain to every
member throughout the year. The grain
bank is totally run by women and the annual
general body meeting discloses the
transactions they made through out and the
surplus/loss they made. Entire mechanism
was simplified to such an extent that it was
chiefly based on local technologies, small
scale of operation and easily accessible to
people.
Local technologies were engaged because it
is managed by local people and they are well
versed with micro climate and ecology. The
traditional storage systems were capable to
store grain for 3 years.
Operations were decentralized and kept at
small scale to accommodate available human
resource at local level which made it cost
effective. In small scale operations the level
2012
of understanding among members remains
high and mutual trust levels also remain
high. A family fails to participate still
accepted when they need some grain from
common stock. This may not be possible in
large scale operations where
impersonalization leaves people to die.
The third aspect is easy access of the system
to people. The trust levels increase and also
levels of commitment if it is locally managed
by known members of community. You will
not notice grain wastage or damage in such
systems. Easy accessibility of food grain to
poor is possible. More over there will be less
transit losses, thefts or other issues. It’s a
closely monitored venture that chiefly aims
to mitigate hunger in crisis.
While establishing such grain banks women
members asked what if a year fails as the
farming is rain fed. So they decided to
accumulate 1 year stocks. In absence of
other productive means household anyway
migrates to industrial hubs in search of
employment. They carry the grains along so
that they need not stay hungry in case they
do not get employed. More over their
dependence on local trader who always
looked for profit making has reduced. This
leveraged them from debts (at a rate of 120-
160%). You will be surprised to know that all
this is done by illiterate women from tribal
communities who have not seen a
commercial bank in their life. For past 7
Local Solutions to Global Problems. 2012

years not even a single hunger death noted
in this area.
Other Parts of India:
Patna:
About 150 Grain banks being run in Patna,
Bhojpur, Gaya, Jamui and Saharsa districts
by Dalit women. "Exploitation led to
establishment of these Grain banks as
Musahars and other landless agricultural
laborers were exploited by landlords and not
given their due wages, " said Pradeep
Priyadarshi of Pragati Gramin Vikas Samiti,
who was the man behind this initiative of
Grain banks. "For a day's labor, we used to
get one kg of grain, which sometimes went
down to half-a-kg on the excuse of having
been adjusted against pending loans. This
encouraged us to set up the Grain banks,"
said a village woman. The family borrowing
wheat and rice has to pay one kg grain as
interest for every five kilogram of grain, said
Sudami Devi, the bank's secretary at Maner
Telpa village. The banks do not charge
interest from extremely poor women.
Besides, they also donate foodgrains to
families free of cost in the event of any death
or physical disability (TOI-Patna 2011).
returning the loan with a grain other than
the one they borrowed,” explained Devi a
leader of one of the SHG. “I cannot express
what a difference this grain bank has made
to our village. The assurance of having food
when one is in need is a blessing,” she
said(WFP-India 2011)
Many voluntary organizations across the
world are promoting such local initiatives.
However they are at micro level. A wide scale
strategy backed by international bodies or
inter government initiatives can mitigate
hunger from this globe. Though
governments derive programs to mitigate
hunger, its reaches up to segments that have
already came out of such individuals or
families who have already out of such
condition. The real poor often left out. For
inclusive growth involvement of grassroots
voluntary efforts are necessary.
Lets commit that ‘no one should die of
hunger’.
RaviShanker.
India.

Uttarakhand:
In another part of India Uttarakahnd food
would be hard to come particularly during
heavy rainfall, snow and landslides that
damage the roads and curtails access to
markets for months together. WFP provided
technical assistance and arranged initial seed
money to set up 55 grain banks. The grain
banks are managed by Self Help Groups of
women. A borrower returns 50 kg grain with
additional 6 kg as interest for a period of 6
months. “Our borrowers have the option of