Conserving Indigenous Food and Food Habit for Sustainable Food Security

Tweet

Arpita Bhattacharjya

Washington DC

@greenfork on twitter

Author completed her M.Phil in Economics from Punjab University, India

Worked as consultant for The World Bank

Editorial Handling: Geetanjali Singh, Section Editor, Indian Botanists

Abstract
    Across the world, there are communities that rely on plant sources available locally in their environment for food and income. They have developed a unique knowledge base about plants that can grow on marginal lands, under difficult climate conditions, and provide a crucial part of their diets through cultivation or foraging. As globalization spreads, the pattern of life which valued and used indigenous foods is breaking up and crucial insights into these sources of nutrition are being lost. This issue assumes more important in the context of feeding a growing population in a planet where the existing food production system is under threat from climate change.

Food Security and Ecology in India

Tweet

 -Arpita Bhattacharjya

Washington DC

@greenfork on twitter

Author completed her M.Phil in Economics from Punjab University, India

Worked as consultant for The World Bank

How to cite this article                                                                                         Download PDF
Bhattacharjya, A., (2014), Food Security and Ecology in India. Indian Botanists Blog-o-Journal. http://www.indianbotanists.com/2014/03/food-security-and-ecology-in-india.html

    In India, last year, there was an intense debate on the proposed Food Security Bill. It centered mostly around the impact on the national budget and the mechanism of distributing extra supplies of food grains to consumers throughout the country. Parliament eventually passed the Bill but the question remains: is this really the food security initiative that will serve people best? For the rural population, which is primarily involved in agriculture, food security is not merely a matter of entitlement to a certain amount of cash or food grains; but is reflected in the existence of an available, accessible and assured source of food that will hold steady in the face of stresses and shocks to the food system. It is not just about hunger, it is about the ability to rely on a source of food in a stable way.