Comments: Vo Draft – Water and Food Security [Committee on World Food Security – High level panel of experts on food security and nutrition]
Let me present few observations:
General comment: (1) Though the matter is very little but the number of pages are too lengthy, confusing, & hypothetical in nature. (2) In general, it is a poor quality report like IPCC reports. A simple example is Figure 3 on page 16 “Rainfall Variation around the mean”. If we look at the Figure it clearly indicate that only very few shades below the mean line and large shades above the mean line.
Subject comments: In India traditional agriculture provided food security and nutrition security to farming community and those living on agriculture related activities. With the mixed cropping the food produced is nutritious as well the fodder produced is nutritious for animal and thus farming included animal husbandry – milk, meat, etc. The people then were healthy & strong. They used to do hard work. There were no public toilets. All open fields are used and yet they are hale and healthy.
This was changed with the green revolution chemical inputs agriculture. With this pollution became a major factor – air, water, soil & food pollution. This lead to new diseases; these lead to establishment of hospitals & drug manufacturing industry and they in turn introduced new pollutants and new health hazards. This is a mono crop system destroyed the animal husbandry. FAO report showed food losses around the world is around 30%. My estimate for India was 40 to 50% [I spoke this on All India Radio National Network] – the same figure was reported by Finance Minister in his budget speech in 2010. Supreme Court also pointed out this. The basic problem here was non-availability of storage and timely transport facilities at farmers’ level. This wasted to that extent the natural resources that include water. This system works under heavy government subsidies, which is benefitting multinational chemical inputs companies.
Now government of India introduced new food security bill in which they added coarse cereals like pearl millet, sorghum & Ragi in addition to rice & wheat. But the government has not made any provision to collect the coarse cereals by FCI and made compulsory to by the coarse cereals under PDS. Through re-introduction of traditional agriculture, large part of nutrition security could be achieved. Here organic farming under cooperative farming system help to achieve the goal.
The following are some of the observations on pages 7 to 16 and rest I did not like to waste my time and as well your time.
(1) Page 7 lines 17, 18 & 19 – false statements – reducing the nutritional status;
(2) Page 8 lines 45-57 – false logic – population growth and shifts towards increased use of animal based protein in affluent communities;
(3) Page 9 lines 34-38 – not looked into the issue in right perspective – water entering in to the sea, wastage of water through wastage of food produced, through natural calamities, inter-state disputes, within the state disputes, etc;
(4) Page 11 lines 3-8 – It is highly hypothetical statement, on food security and nutrition. The title “Water quality and food security and nutrition” is inaccurate;
(5) Page 14 Box 2 -- is inaccurate statement. Lines 24-25 & Box 3 droughts – “There is some evidence that droughts have become more intense in recent decades” is a false statement and not based on scientific evidence;
(6) Page 15 lines 12-17 to page 16 – inaccurate statement
(7) Page 16 Figure 3 – below the mean are few years and above the mean are too many years;
You can see the following two books of mine [they are available in FAO, Rome Library or at www.scribd.com or Google books]:
1. Agroclimatic/Agrometeorological Techniques: As applicable to Dry-land Agriculture in Developing Countries, 205 pp [1993]
2. “Green” Green Revolution: Agriculture in the perspective of Climate Change, 160 pp [2011]
Dr. S. Jeevananda Reddy
Formerly Chief Technical Advisor – WMO/UN & Expert – FAO/UN
Fellow, Andhra Pradesh Akademy of Sciences
Convenor, Forum for a Sustainable Environment
Plot No. 277, Jubilee Hills, Phase-III
Road No. 78, Hyderabad 500 096
Tel. (040) 23550480
E-Mail: [email protected]
Dr. S. Jeevananda Reddy