Liberalisation would affect agriculture, feel activists

Food prices on the other hand were on the rise and "misconceived schemes" like the targeted public distribution system (TPDS) were further skewing the imbalanced foodgrain availability, Dr Vandana Shiva of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology (RFSTE) said.

"Indian agriculture is heading for a crisis of food production, food security and rising prices. The export driven policies of successive governments committed to liberalisation, have led to diversion of vast areas of agricultural land for horticulture, aquaculture, orchardsamong others. Government policy has deliberately encouraged production of commercial crops through increases in subsidies and loans," she added.

According to figures compiled by the RFSTE, since 1971, production of small millets consumed mainly by the poor had declined from 1.9 million tonnes to 821,000 tonnes in 1995-96. The area under coarse cereals had declined from 45.95 million hectares to 31.49 million hectares.

"Paddy fields are giving way to factories and traditional crops like rice are being replaced by potatoes in Chengalpattu. As a result, there is little employment for local farmhands. Women have been reduced to prostitution to feed their families," said Fatima Burnad of the Tamil Nadu Women’s Forum.

According to Dr Shiva, government policies had led to a huge hike in prices of basic staples such as wheat and rice. Prices of these grains had become higher in India than comparative prices on the international market, she said.

For instance, in 1992-93, the wholesale price of wheat perquintal in India was Rs 304 compared to Rs 190 in the US. Similarly for rice, the wholesale price in India was Rs 481 compared to Rs 348 in the US. From July 1997 to July 1998, the retail price of wheat and rice had risen 12.5 per cent and 22 per cent respectively, she added.

As a result of trade liberalisation policies, cereal exports had increased from 12 per cent of total agricultural exports in 1991-92 to 27 per cent in 1995-96. Meanwhile, per capita coarse cereal consumption had declined from 17 kg a month in the 1950s to 13.5 kg a month in the 1990s, the activist said quoting figures released by the Union Agriculture Ministry.

All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) general secretary Brinda Karat says schemes such as the TPDS had failed in the objective of providing cheap foodgrains to poor families and should be scrapped.

Citing Mumbai’s Dharavi, the largest slum in Asia, as an example, Karat said only 375 families had been identified as below poverty line (BPL) and given the BPL cardswhich would enable them to receive 10 kg of foodgrains at half the normal PDS price.

"By administered price hikes of goods in the PDS, poor quality of the foodgrains supplied and the irregularity of the supplies, the government had deliberately ensured that the off-take is low and then used the low off-take for further cuts," she added.

According to Dr Shiva, the off-take of food grain from the central public distribution system had gone down from 20.7 million tonne to 19.1 million tonnes. During 1997-98, the off-take fell by 25.6 per cent and during April-May 1998, it fell further by 28 per cent, she said.

Efforts by multinationals to sell genetically engineered foodcrops was another threat to the food security of developing countries like India, the activist warned. Cautioning against the surreptitious entry of technologies such as the Terminator gene, Dr Shiva said this would kill the second generation of seeds and place South’s food production in the hands of powerful northern based multinationalswho were interested only in maximising their profits.

A proper land use policy to prevent diversion of agricultural land for commercial purposes such as aquaculture and horticulture should also be formulated, they said. Common land should not be handed over for commercial use and should instead by used for production of fodder and fuel, the activists banded under the banner of `The National Alliance of Women’s Food Rights’ said.

The government should encourage public investment in agriculture and restrict MNC investment, which would leave farmers vulnerable to rural capitalists and MNCs, they said.

Rejecting genetically engineered crops, the alliance called upon the government to immediately stop the license free import of one million tonnes of soyabean as no efforts had been made to prevent the entry of genetically engineered soya. The alliance demanded that food processing be reserved for the small-scale sector and both the big domestic industry and multinationals be kept out of it.