Aspirant Academy

Economy

Food Security and Food Processing

Agriculture: Productivity, Land Reforms, Finance, Marketing, Food Security, Food Processing

Paper I · Unit 2 Section 7 of 11 0 PYQs 26 min
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Food Security and Food Processing

6.1 Food Security Architecture

Food security has four dimensions (FAO framework): availability, access, utilisation, and stability. India has addressed these through a legislative and operational framework.

6.2 National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013

  • Coverage: 81.35 crore persons (67% population) — 75% rural + 50% urban
  • Entitlement: up to 5 kg foodgrains/person/month at subsidised prices
    • Rice: Rs 3/kg | Wheat: Rs 2/kg | Coarse grains: Rs 1/kg
  • Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) families (poorest of poor): 35 kg/month
  • Implementation: TPDS (Targeted Public Distribution System) through Fair Price Shops

6.3 PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY)

  • Started April 2020 as COVID relief — free foodgrains (5 kg/person/month) beyond NFSA entitlement
  • Continued and merged with NFSA from January 1, 2024 — NFSA entitlement now free of cost for 5 years (2024–28)
  • Cost to GoI: approximately Rs 2 lakh crore/year

6.4 Buffer Stocks and Food Corporation of India (FCI)

  • FCI (est. 1964): Procures, stores, and distributes foodgrains for NFSA
  • Minimum Buffer Norms (2015): 6.1 MT rice + 5.1 MT wheat on April 1 each year
  • Actual buffer stock often far exceeds norms (40–60+ MT) — creating a management and wastage challenge
  • Grain storage capacity: 720 lakh MT (FCI + CWC + SWC combined); large storage gaps persist

6.5 Food Processing Industry

India's food processing sector is one of the largest in the world, connecting agricultural production to value addition and export markets. Key statistics:

  • Contributes ~8.4% of manufacturing GVA and ~13% of India's exports
  • World's 5th largest food processing sector
  • Only ~2.2% of agricultural output is processed in India — vs. 40% in China, 70% in USA — indicating huge potential

PM Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY), 2017

Umbrella scheme of Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI). Its components:

  1. Mega Food Parks (MFP): 25 sanctioned; Rs 50 crore/park grant; 350+ primary processing centres
  2. Cold Chain, Value Addition and Preservation Infrastructure: 393 projects; Rs 1,600 crore grant
  3. Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure: Farm-to-market cold chain connectivity
  4. Backward and Forward Linkages: Integrating farm gate to consumers
  5. Food Safety and Quality Assurance Infrastructure
  6. Human Resources and Institutions

Impact by 2024: 36.8 lakh MT additional processing capacity; 7.8 lakh jobs created; 2+ lakh farmers directly benefited.

Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Food Processing

  • Launched 2021; outlay Rs 10,900 crore over 6 years
  • Target: boost food manufacturing and exports across ready-to-eat, marine products, organic, and mozzarella segments
  • 175+ companies approved; projected sales of Rs 33,494 crore

One District One Product (ODOP)

  • Identifying and promoting one unique product per district for processing and export
  • Connects to Atma Nirbhar Bharat's local-to-global vision

6.6 Global Hunger and India

India ranked 105/127 in Global Hunger Index 2023 — categorised as "Serious" hunger. Key weaknesses:

  • Child stunting: 35.5% of children under 5
  • Child wasting: 18.7%
  • High anaemia rates in women and children

POSHAN Abhiyaan (National Nutrition Mission, 2018) targets: reduce stunting by 2% and undernutrition by 2% per year.