Proposed content discusses many relevant issues. Stratification of population into urban, peri-urban and rural assumes matured democratic processes operating in environment with distributed development and decentralised administration. Policy guidelines are not sufficient for countries with non-uniform development and large income disparity across the country both in the cities and urban and rural areas. Policy process guidelines covering policy design, policy implementation, policy administration and policy governance activities are required. Law makers unaware of the scope and limitations of each of these activities might influence the outcome to meet short term gains undermining the measurements representing policy process quality.
A. Share your comments on the objectives and proposed content of this report as outlined above.
Proposed content discusses many relevant issues. Stratification of population into urban, peri-urban and rural assumes matured democratic processes operating in environment with distributed development and decentralised administration. Policy guidelines are not sufficient for countries with non-uniform development and large income disparity across the country both in the cities and urban and rural areas. Policy process guidelines covering policy design, policy implementation, policy administration and policy governance activities are required. Law makers unaware of the scope and limitations of each of these activities might influence the outcome to meet short term gains undermining the measurements representing policy process quality.
Some of the observations in the scope and rationale:
“This policy incoherence insists on a general lack of coordination between policies and actors concerned with food security, agriculture, environment, etc., and urban planning, and it is exacerbated by the general dearth of city-level data, analyses and empirical evidence to inform decision-making on urban and peri-urban food policy. As such, it is difficult for policymakers to plan, prioritize, design and track urban and peri-urban food system interventions and ensure coherence across policies and sectors.”
“Local markets multiplied, as did initiatives by family producers for home delivery of baskets of fresh food and initiatives for food donations to low-income communities. “
“At the same time, urban and peri-urban areas are home to interesting innovations for food production, processing and distribution, such as vertical gardens, ethical purchasing groups and marketing innovations, which could be replicated in other contexts.“ CVK: Vertical gardens in densely populated areas? Insects, reptiles etc!!!
“They also include investment in rural and urban infrastructure, the development of territorial markets and short supply chains.” CVK: territorial markets are often managed by mafia !!!
“Economic deprivation is the biggest cause of food insecurity in urban areas. Moreover, the methods of measurement of this economic deprivation in urban areas are often inadequate. Absolute levels of poverty in cities tend to be moderate, depending on the locality. However, relative levels of poverty are always high due to the prevailing levels of income inequality. This makes food security schemes like the PDS less effective since PDS targets below poverty line households. In an absolute sense, a sufficient amount of the urban poor may not satisfy the BPL requirements but would still suffer from food insecurity due to the higher costs of living associated with urban areas- prices tend to be higher in urban areas due to higher demand, higher average incomes and high transportation costs. While those above the poverty line, with certain income constraints, are still eligible for the PDS programme, the amount due to them is much less.” [7]
“The character of poverty would also be impacted by such differences, and interventions to alleviate urban poverty would need customisation to suit dissimilar requirements. In villages, internal distances are small and every village corner is easily accessible. In cities, intra-city travel gets more difficult to negotiate, traffic congestion multiplies and negotiating distances consumes more time and money. These have adverse implications on the income of the urban poor.”
“The past practice of seeing all poverty in a rural light and applying rural solutions in urban conditions will not yield the expected results.” [8]
B. Share good practices and successful experiences on strengthening urban and peri-urban food systems in the context of urbanization and rural transformation, including in the case of emergencies or conflicts.
"Every panchayat (Kerala has 941 in total) will have a phone number to which calls can be made to avail the food from the nearest community kitchen. None should go hungry," Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had said while announcing the initiative on March 25.
Reference: CORONAVIRUS: COMMUNITY KITCHENS DISH OUT 2.8 LAKH FOOD PACKETS A DAY IN KERALA, https://yourstory.com/2020/04/coronavirus-community-kitchen-kerela-food…
C. Share recent literature, case studies and data that could help answer the following questions:
5. How can national and municipal governments strengthen the potential for low-carbon, inclusive, relatively self-sufficient and resilient cities and towns to drive improved food security and nutrition in the wake of climate change and other crises?
Response: Develop a coherent food security and nutrition policy process considering applicable context at national and sub-national levels.
6. What are the most appropriate policies (and gaps in existing policies) along the rural-urban continuum to address issues of land tenure, urban expansion into farmland and the growing competition for natural resources?
Response: Rural transformation leading to vibrant village atmosphere is necessary to bridge the urban- rural development gap. In several middle low income countries including India, the economic development is varying and is not uniform across the country, regions and states. There is a large disparity between urban and rural development. In [3] an analysis of consumer expenditure in India is given. It is indicated that In India monthly per capita consumption expenditure has increased in both rural and urban areas over the years. However, the increase in expenditure has been greater in urban areas compared to rural areas. This shows a wide rural-urban disparity in the monthly per capita expenditure. In [4] average monthly expenditure in rural India is analysed. During 2011-12 average urban MPCE- monthly per capita consumption expenditure at ₹2,630 was about 84% higher than average rural MPCE ₹1,430 for the country as a whole. In the average rural Indian household’s food consumption accounted for about ₹758. In the case of urban households, it accounted for ₹1120 of the average consumption budget. The most noticeable rural-urban differences in the 2011-12 survey related to spending on cereals (urban ₹176, rural: ₹154), rent (urban: ₹163, rural: ₹7.15) and education (urban: ₹184, rural: ₹50). There is a wide disparity in education and accommodation expenditure.
The NABARD All India Rural Financial Inclusion Survey (NAFIS) shows that average agriculture household income was a mere Rs 8,931 per month in 2016-17. Apart from a paltry income, farmers are facing rising indebtedness, lesser financial inclusion, and absence of insurance facility, according to the NAFIS report [5]. While cultivation is still a major source of income (35 per cent), followed by daily wage labourer (34 per cent), livestock rearing contributes only 8 per cent of their income.
Agriculture value added per worker in India is 1669(constant USD), GDP per capita is 6516(USD, PPP) [6]. Agriculture produce is priced at international market price, where as the GDP per capita is based on country inflation. The agricultural worker / marginal farmer get paid less for produce, where as they have to pay higher price for the food they consume. Generally, villagers sell their agricultural produce in raw form to a middleman to meet their financial commitments. They ignore the significance of income generating activities around their agricultural produce. For example, there are two intermediate derivatives with cotton. Cotton is generally sold in raw form. Separating seeds from cotton bolls and crushing the seeds to separate oil and pulp gives two intermediate derivatives. Selling oil to soap manufacturers and pulp to farmers as organic fertilizer/ compost are good income generating activities. Most of the agricultural produce has intermediate derivatives with significant economic value. Lack of information on potential opportunities is a major hurdle in maximising economic value of agricultural produce.
Income generating activities in other domestic production sectors including handicrafts, handlooms, pottery, tailoring etc, adds to the list of potential opportunities for a villager’s income reaching national GDP (PPP).
8. What are the potential benefits and challenges of territorial markets for strengthening food security and nutrition for urban populations?
Response: Fresh blue food from local water bodies is likely to provide another income generating opportunity to youth living inland (non- coastal) and hill regions. 1) Small aqua farms in water bodies of villages (agricultural tanks not drains with chemicals) provide an opportunity for necessary nutrition security to the people living in villages. 2) Local blue food will reduce the emissions due to transportation of wet and fresh aqua food from coastal area to inland. Cold storage facilities and highspeed transportation adds to the current levels of emissions. 3) Greenhouse gases emission from fish is less compared to chicken, pig and cattle. 4) Distributed development of fisheries across the country: wild catch from sea in coastal regions, fresh water aquaculture in inland/hill regions will lead to happy and healthy communities. 5) Unfair competition from big fisheries with big boats to small scale fishing community will be reduced.
9. In what ways can the incorporation of climate resilient agricultural and circular economy practices in urban and peri-urban agriculture provide climate co-benefits for all and enhance climate resilience?
Response: “Locally produced food can contribute to resilience of the vulnerable and resource-poor by increasing food availability, enhancing nutrition, improving farmers’ livelihoods and creating job opportunities for other disadvantaged groups. By adding value within local supply chains and markets, this approach contributes to improved local revenues”.[1]
Farmer’s forum of India described ‘Nutritional resilience and production for self-consumption of rural communities with backyard poultry, home gardens & farmers’ & community markets. [2].
10. How can citizens be engaged and empowered to drive inclusive, transparent, participatory processes for urban transformations, ensuring synergies and complementarity with city councils?
- Integrate long shelf -life food products with fresh local food items to meet special dietary requirement of aged and vulnerable.
- As a part of ‘leave no one behind’ motivate small farmers in high value and labour-intensive food grains cultivation. Initiate steps to increase participation of small farmers, agricultural workers in food chain value addition (goods and services) to reach income at par with other manufacturing and service sectors.
- Bridge the rural urban gap in the standard of living. Train and motivate rural youth in marketing, using digital technology and e-commerce in creating a vibrant atmosphere in villages. Trained youth provides information on food, health and education sectors as a paid service. Youth at village may partner with farmers, landless agricultural workers in micro and small enterprises to increase income level of self and other farmers and landless agricultural workers.
- Encourage self-reliance. Distribute development and decentralize administration to ensure nutritious food to disadvantaged populations in epidemics and shocks due to natural disasters.
- Promote ‘blue food’ (fresh water prawns and small fish like herrings). Blue food from fresh water bodies is likely to provide another income generating opportunity to youth living inland (non- coastal) and hill regions, nutrition security to the people living in villages, will reduce the emissions due to transportation of wet and fresh aqua food from coastal area to inland, reduce the need of cold storage facilities and highspeed transportation, reduce emissions. Greenhouse gases from fish is less compared to chicken, pig and cattle.
11. Which experiences of urban communities to increase access to fresh food and healthy diets can inspire broader public policies?
Provide nutrition quality food with choice to all residents. Hot food ready to eat delivered at the preferred location in the coverage area. Delivery charges are according to the type of food delivered and distance from the preparation point.
- Subsidized meal from government canteens.
- Standard breakfast and lunch giving about 1380Kcal Energy, per person/per day.
- Breakfast and lunch with fine variety grains giving about 1380Kcal Energy per person/per day at extra cost.
- Breakfast and lunch with eggs in breakfast, fine variety grains and non vegetarian items giving about 1380Kcal Energy per person/per day at extra cost.
- Hygiene prepared fresh non vegetarian food items like boneless chicken/mutton, fish and other aqua food in small quantities like 100g/200g.
- Semi prepared food items like boneless chicken/mutton, fish and other aqua food in small quantities like 100g/200g, such that interested household can add condiments as per family food habits/taste.
References:
- Enhance local production for local consumption, Solution Cluster 5.2.1, UNFSS 2021.
- Nutritional resilience and production for self consumption of rural communities with backyard poultry, home gardens & farmers’ & community markets, 34, farmers' forum, India, Solution Cluster 5.2.1, UNFSS 2021.
- An Analysis of Consumption Expenditure in India, Dr. M. S. DESHMUKH, S. S. VYAVAHARE, EUROPEAN ACADEMIC RESEARCH, Vol. V, Issue 10/ January 2018.
- Rs 1,413: Avg monthly surplus for rural India is just enough to buy a fan, Shreehari Paliath , Business standard, September 24, 2018.
- NAFIS Report Released by NITI AAYOG, 17 Aug 2018.
- FAO. 2019. World Food and Agriculture – Statistical pocketbook 2019. Rome.
- UNDERSTANDING URBAN FOOD INSECURITY IN INDIA, Riya Chaturvedi, Youth Policy review, June 30,2021
- How is urban poverty different from rural?, RAMANATH JHA, URBAN FUTURES, NOV 25 2020, Observer Research Foundation
Dr. Kameswararao Chiruvolu