MEMO FROM NARA

Agricultural scientists talked about food production, food processing, food-security and now food-safety. Much had been discussed and efforts were taken to increase food production by improving the crop cultivars, agricultural practices and popularizing them to the beneficiaries like the farmers who depend mainly on the seasonal rains and market prices. To an extent the food production in India is somewhat satisfactory.

The food processing has taken a leap in preservation and increasing the shelf-life of food products. The attempt in this direction has led to processing industries linked with food production. Where ever such link exists the chain is moving alright. The processing industries and the supply chain have provided million of jobs for the skilled persons. grown providing self-employment to a large number of housekeepers both in urban and Food processing as a cottage industry has also rural areas.

Food-security is another important area considered by agricultural scientists and economists. The term ‘food-security’ was defined at the 1974 World Food Conference. “It is the availability at all times of adequate world food supplies of basic foodstuffs to sustain a steady expansion of food consumption and to offset fluctuations in production and prices.” Later in 1996, World Food Summit stated that “food-security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.” Food insecurity occurs when food production is affected by natural calamities such as drought, floods, fire etc. Also war, political instability, poor economic policies and famine caused by all these calamities bring food insecurity. So, sufficient stocks of food grains are stored by every government in its warehouses. So food-security is invariably taken care by respective governments and in small scales the families themselves.

 The fourth important aspect much talked about and greater awareness created is the food-safety. It concerns the life and death of the consumers. Food-safety has to be taken care of at all levels like food production and food processing. Food provides energy to body and health to humans and animals. So, safe food is essential to energize these living beings. Sometimes we do find contaminated food items with toxic substances such as pesticides, heavy metals, some alkaloids and pathogens like bacteria, mould and fungi. Even some of the preservative and additives of the processed food may cause allergy to some people. There are food acts which give the clear-cut details about food-safety.

Of late, because of the concerns about food-safety, the concept of organic agriculture is popularized and more and more people started talking about food-safety. They consider that organically produced fresh food is safe to eat and also good for health. Rules and guidelines have been designed to grow and certify organic foods. Here and there in every city we do find some shops selling organic vegetables, fruits, grains and many other items. They claim that those produce are organically produced and processed and explain that they are safe to consume. Such organic products are costly because the yield of such crops is reduced by 30% by organic cultivation. Anyway food-safety is an important consideration we, the humans have to pay attention because we hear everyday death of people and animals due to food poisoning. Agricultural scientists are aware about the above mentioned four important aspects of food and they should take appropriate measures to tackle the ticklish problems.