{"id":252105,"date":"2023-07-14T21:05:10","date_gmt":"2023-07-14T15:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=252105"},"modified":"2023-08-31T12:46:41","modified_gmt":"2023-08-31T07:16:41","slug":"protect-rural-incomes-to-tackle-the-current-food-security-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/protect-rural-incomes-to-tackle-the-current-food-security-threat\/","title":{"rendered":"Protect rural incomes to tackle the current food security threat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source<\/strong>: The post is based on the article\u00a0\u201cProtect rural incomes to tackle\u00a0the current food security threat<\/strong>\u201d published in Live Mint <\/strong>on\u00a014th<\/sup> July 2023<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Syllabus: <\/strong>GS 3 \u2013 Agriculture \u2013 Issues of Buffer Stocks & Food Security<\/strong><\/p>\n

Relevance: <\/strong>concerns with rising food inflation<\/strong><\/p>\n

News: <\/strong>Recently, the National Statistical Office has released the retail inflation data.<\/p>\n

What are the key highlights of the retail inflation data?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The data shows a moderate rise in inflation to 4.81% in June from 4.3% last month. However, despite the increase, this rate is within India\u2019s tolerance band.<\/p>\n

Further, food inflation has climbed to 4.49% from 2.96%, which is a cause for concern for the government. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

What has caused the rise in food inflation?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Analysis of consumer price index (CPI) data shows that the foodgrain group contributed the most to the rise in food inflation.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For instance,<\/strong> cereal inflation stands at 13%, with both rice and wheat experiencing 12% inflation. Arhar (tur), the dominant pulse item also shows inflation of 27%.<\/p>\n

Therefore, the concern lies with the rising foodgrain inflation, particularly for cereals and pulses.<\/p>\n

What are the concerns present with food grains?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Wheat:<\/strong> Wheat inflation has remained in double digits for over a year.The government was able to procure only 26 million tonnes of wheat against a target of 34 million tonnes, which shows less wheat supply in the market.<\/p>\n

Wheat prices have remained high despite massive open market operations<\/strong> by the government before the procurement season. This brings concern that wheat supply may not be as high as projected.<\/p>\n

As a result of low procurement this year and the last, wheat stocks are barely sufficient to meet the needs of the Public Distribution System (PDS<\/strong>). It leaves little scope for further market intervention.<\/p>\n

Rice:<\/strong> Despite the government holding sufficient stocks, regional spread of the monsoon has raised concerns<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

While there has been above -average rainfall in north-west India, there is a deficit in the rest of the country. This excess rainfall in northwestern India has caused floods which may affect rice crops.<\/p>\n

Whereas a deficit in rainfall in eastern and peninsular India may result in lower output of rice in the kharif season.<\/p>\n

Pulses:<\/strong> There are problems with pulses. Arhar sowing this year is lower by almost 10%. Even oilseeds sowing is down by more than 10%, with soybean sowing falling 14%.<\/p>\n

What can be the implications of <\/strong>inflation in food grains?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The inflation in food grains may affect other food items like milk.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Further, as food grains have a significant weight in the consumption basket, the rising prices are likely to squeeze demand for other commodities<\/strong>. Therefore, government intervention is necessary to protect the income of farmers.<\/p>\n

What measures can be taken by the government?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

While food security interventions, such as the Public Distribution System (PDS), can provide some relief, a more comprehensive strategy is required to protect the rural economy.<\/p>\n

This will require the government to step up public spending to generate demand in the economy, raise incomes and create non-farm employment.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: The post is based on the article\u00a0\u201cProtect rural incomes to tackle\u00a0the current food security threat\u201d published in Live Mint on\u00a014th July 2023. Syllabus: GS 3 \u2013 Agriculture \u2013 Issues of Buffer Stocks & Food Security Relevance: concerns with rising food inflation News: Recently, the National Statistical Office has released the retail inflation data. What… Continue reading Protect rural incomes to tackle the current food security threat<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[216,8184,10501],"class_list":["post-252105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-3","tag-indian-economy","tag-live-mint","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252105\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}