Parveen Kumar
Despite self sufficiency and record food grains production, something ails accessibility, affordability and nutritional security of food in the country? The report of Global Hunger Index 2024 speaks in volumes of persistent flaws and an imbroglio in different aspects of our food production chain. In 2024 GHI analysis India falls under ‘serious’ category along with 41 other nations including Pakistan and Afghanistan. Despite a plethora of pro farm policies and farmer centric schemes, the country is not showing visible improvement in Global Hunger Index. In 2022, India ranked 107th out of 121 countries and with that rank, India had also slipped 6 positions from its 2021 rank of 101 making it the country having the highest child wasting rate among children. Again in 2023 GHI report, India stood at a position of 111 out of 125 countries indicating a hunger severity level categorized as ‘serious’ for the country. India’s GHI score in 2023 was 28.7 on a 100-point scale where 0 is the best score (no hunger) and 100 is the worst. In 2024, the country has again stood with a league of nations which are placed in ‘serious’ category in terms of hunger.
The report that aims to comprehensively measure and track hunger at the global, regional, and country levels is calculated on the basis of four indicators viz undernourishment referring to the share of the population with insufficient caloric intake; Child Wasting i. e share of children under age five who have low weight for their height reflecting acute under-nutrition; Child Stunting depicting the share of children under age five who have low height for their age reflecting chronic under-nutrition and finally child mortality describing the mortality rate of children under the age of five. Based on the values of the four indicators, the GHI determines hunger on a 100-point scale where 0 is the best possible score (no hunger) and 100 is the worst. On the severity scale, the countries with a score of less than or equal to 9.9 are in low level of hunger category, those with score in between 10 to 19.9 fall under moderate category of hunger and those with a score of 20-34.9 are categorized as countries with serious levels of hunger, 35-49.9 fall in alarming and those with a score greater than or equal to 50 placed in the extremely alarming category. Each country’s GHI score is classified by severity, from low to extremely alarming. Undernourishment data are provided by the Food and Agriculture Organization and Child Mortality data are sourced from the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME).Child wasting and stunting data are drawn from the joint database of UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank among others. Based on indicators like undernourishment, child stunting, child wasting, and child mortality across 127 countries; the top 10 hungriest countries in the world in 2024 are Somalia, Yemen, Chad, Madagascar, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Niger, Liberia, Central African Republic, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. In the Global Hunger Index (GHI) of 2024, India has been placed in the 105th position, categorizing it as ‘serious’ in terms of hunger analysis. India has got a GHI score of 27.3 which places it in serious category. This is a big jolt, given the position of our South Asian neighbours like Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka in GHI 2024. All these countries fall into the ‘moderate’ category of hunger level. However, if we see and compare the GHI score, India where hunger level was categorized as ‘alarming’ in 2000 with a score of 38.4, has shown gradual improvement over the years. But definitely this improvement is not enough and what the country had aspired to be. The data extracted from the Global Hunger Index 2024 report is shocking as well as alarming. It is hard to believe but GHI 2024 reveals that about 13.7 per cent of India’s population suffers from undernourishment, 35.5 per cent of children under the age of five are stunted, 18.7 per cent of children experience wasting and what a tragedy that 2.9 per cent of children do not reach their fifth birthday. These figures reflect some deep-rooted issues in our production and distribution system.
At the global level too, the situation is pathetic. According to United Nations WORLD Food programme (WFP), about 350 million people around the globe today are undergoing the most extreme conditions of hunger and out of those almost 49 million people are on the verge of famine right now. Besides, over 820 million people suffer from chronic undernourishment, with about 60 percent of women and five million children below five years of age dying of malnutrition related causes each day, as per Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The world has to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS) by 2030 and of 17 SDGs; SDG 2 is concerned with eliminating hunger in all forms and work for a Zero Hunger world. From GHI 2024, it appears that the goal of achieving zero hunger by 2030 appears challenging given that 42 countries are still facing alarming or serious levels of hunger. Overall, the world today stands at a GHI score of 18.3, a small decrease from the 2016 score of 18.8, categorized as moderate. It is further unfortunate that the progress against hunger has slowed down with 22 countries witnessing an increase in hunger since 2016, while in 20 countries, the progress has largely stalled. Notably, in 5 countries Fiji, Jordan, Libya, Syria, and Venezuela the hunger situation has gotten even worse than in 2000. The 2024 GHI results highlight challenges affecting the world’s poorest countries, amplifying structural inequalities. GHI is an instrument utilized by international humanitarian agencies to estimate and track hunger levels.
Food is recognized as third most basic human necessity after air and water as well as a basic human right under the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights and two legally-binding international covenants. Everyone deserves the right to access adequate food. It is a tragedy of present times that despite the world’s farmers producing enough food to feed more than the global population; hunger still persists in so many forms. People all across the globe are witnessing the largest global food crisis in the agrarian history. The COVID-19 pandemic coupled with economic recession in major economies and the threats arising out of increasing temperatures all have contributed to rising hunger and starvation. In Indian case, food security is not an issue as we now produce more than sufficient food grains, the GHI 2024 might be a reflection of our state of nutritional security. The staple foods like wheat, maize and paddy no doubt fill bellies but quiet often these do not have enough essential vitamins and micronutrients. This leads to their susceptibility towards various diseases. Bio-fortification has the potential to address the issue of nutrient deficiencies. Biofortification is the process by which the nutritional quality of food crops is improved through agronomic practices, conventional plant breeding, or modern biotechnology. The present government is working on this and has started a no. of flagship programmes to ensure nutritional security of all. Biofortified varieties of different crops have been developed and have already been released. At the same time it is all necessary to go for mass awareness campaigns on nutritional security especially involving youth, adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating mothers. Promotion of Kitchen gardening, cultivation of millets and concept of ‘Nutritional Thali’ can also change the situation at ground level.
(The author writes on agriculture and social issues)