Question

Why is food security essential in a country?

Answer 1

(i) Food security is essential in a country to ensure that food is available at all times and thereby to avoid starvation like a situation. The people living below the poverty line might be food insecure all the time while better-off people might also turn food insecure during famine, calamity or disaster.

(ii) Due to natural calamity such as drought, famine, etc. total production of foodgrains decreases. It creates a shortage of food in the affected areas. Due to a shortage of food, the prices go up. At high prices, some people cannot afford to buy food. If such calamity happens in a very wide area or is stretched over a longer time period it may cause a situation of starvation.

(iii) Massive starvation might take a turn of famine. The most devastating famine that occurred in India was the famine of Bengal in 1943. This famine killed thirty lakh people in the province of Bengal. If food security were there, the famine-like situation would have been averted easily.