Food Scarcity in India

In India there are 195.9 million people who suffer from hunger that is about 14.8% of the

population. Women aged from 15-49 years old, 51.4% of them are anemic, and 38.4% of

children under the age of 5 have their size stunted. Every year in India 40% of fruits and

vegetables alongside 30% of grains are lost due to improper supply management.

Since India is home to nearly 1/8th of the population it is alarming that so many people suffer

from food scarcity due to their size of their population or underdeveloped technology. This is

important because nearly 200 million people suffer from hunger in India, that is ⅔ of the United

States population. India has nearly 200 million people suffering from hunger, a solution needs to

be found to end the suffering of these people.

Agoramoorthy, G., & Hsu, M. J. (2015). Community-Organized Irrigated Agriculture Mitigates Local
Food Insecurity in India’s Drylands. Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems, 39(9), 1003–
1021. https://doi-org.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/10.1080/21683565.2015.1069776

This article is about the challenges regarding food that are faced by the people in the drylands of
India, who are often than not the areas these people live in suffer from low rainfall and are able
to harvest very little. The purpose of the study was to examine practices used for irrigation in
drylands to try and increase agriculture sustainability. The authors of these journals are Elizabeth
Aurino and Virginia Morrow, Virginia Morrow attended Oxford University and Elizabeth
attended the Imperial College Business School in the UK. The authors are qualified to write on
this topic. The intended audience seems to be other researchers since the purpose of their study
is to gain data on food insecurity among children. This article is not similar to any of my other
sources because it is mainly about investigating practices for proper irrigation to improve
agriculture. This work informs my topic because it gives insight on how the proper techniques
for irrigation collection can increase agriculture turn out.

Chandrasekhar, S., Aguayo, V. M., Krishna, V., & Nair, R. (2017). Household food insecurity and
children’s dietary diversity and nutrition in India. Evidence from the comprehensive nutrition
survey in Maharashtra. Maternal & Child Nutrition, 13, n/a-N.PAG. https://doi-
org.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/10.1111/mcn.12447
 This article is about using the data from a Nutrition Survey that was taken in Maharashtra, India
to answer these issues; “whether household food security predicts higher diet diversity in
children aged 6–23 months; whether household food security predicts lower risk of
undernutrition; and whether the lower risk of undernutrition in children who live in food secure
households is mediated by improved diet diversity for children”. It was found that children who
are severely food insecure are more likely to be stunted and underweight. Also, children who
were food insecure tended to have lower diet scores. Diet diversity is highly associated with
whether a child is stunted or not. The author is S.Chandrasekhar and he is apart of the Indira
Gandhi Institute of Development Research which makes him qualified to write on this topic.
The intended audience is other researchers or those seeking knowledge in this topic because they
are analyzing the data from the comprehensive nutrition survey to answer questions about food
scarcity in households.

Chatterjee, P. (2002). India sees parallel rise in malnutrition and obesity. The Lancet, 360(9349),
1948. https://doi-org.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/10.1016/S0140-6736(02)11943-X

This article is about explaining the report “The Food Insecurity Adas of Rural India” and how it
assess’ food insecurity in urban areas and how rich people suffer the opposite of the poor. In the
report it was found that 53% of the population in urban areas were self-employed and had casual
labor jobs earning only around $1-2 a day. It has also been seen that those who live in areas with
little sanitation are less likely to eat because they are constantly sick. It was found that in urban
india 15.4% of children are severely stunted and 35.6% were stunted. It was found that out of
5000 children in private schools, 29% of the children were overweight. The author is Patralekha
Chatterjee but I could not find their credentials, but their information is credible. The intended
audience is those looking into understanding the report “The Food Insecurity Adas of Rural
India.”. This article is similar to the second one because they are both about analyzing data found
from research.

Chinnakali, P., Upadhyay, R. P., Shokeen, D., Singh, K., Kaur, M., Singh, A. K., … Pandav, C. S.
(2014). Prevalence of Household-level Food Insecurity and Its Determinants in an Urban
Resettlement Colony in North India. Journal of Health, Population & Nutrition, 32(2), 227–236.
Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=aph&AN=96994771&site=ehost-live

This article is about analyzing food insecurity in India by retrieving data in an urban area colony
in South Delhi, India. The analysis was done to find the factors associated with food insecurity. It
was found that out of the 250 families 72.2% of households were food insecure, 49.2% are
mildly insecure and 18.8% were moderately insecure, and 9.2% being severely insecure. The
author is Palanivel Chinnakali, he is an associate Professor at Jawaharlal Institute Of
Postgraduate Medical Education And Research which makes him qualified to write on this topic.
The intended audience is people who are concerned with ongoing food insecurity in India. This
article is not similar to the previous sources because it is looking at the amount of food insecure
 households.

Chyne, D. A. L., Meshram, I. I., Rajendran, A., Kodali, V., Getti, N., Longvah, T., … Kuhnlein, H. V.
(2017). Nutritional status, food insecurity, and biodiversity among the Khasi in Meghalaya,
North‐East Sarkar, A., & vanLoon, G. W. (2015). Modern agriculture and food and nutrition
insecurity: paradox in India. Public Health (Elsevier), 129(9), 1291–1293. https://doi-
org.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/10.1016/j.puhe.2015.04.003

This article is about how has India improved its agricultural practices throughout the 21st century
food insecurity became more common. Although grain production increased between the years
1977 and 1996, the nutrition of children had very little improvement. Between the years 2005
and 2006 the National Family Health surveys recorded that 46%, 19%, and 38% of children
under the age of 5 were underweight and had their growth stunted. The author was Atuna Sarkar
who is apart of the Division of Community Health and Humanities which makes him qualified to
write on the topic. The intended audience for this article was those seeking information on this
topic. This source is similar to the third source because they both contain information on children
being stunted.

Gustafson, D. J. (2013). Rising food costs & global food security: Key issues & relevance for India.
Indian Journal of Medical Research, 138(3), 398–410. Retrieved from
http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=aph&AN=90539573&site=ehost-live

This article is about how high food prices have both good and bad effects. With higher food
prices farmers get paid more but with comes people who cannot keep up with increasing prices.
It was found that in 1987-1988 the amount of undernourished households were 25% and in 2004-
2005 the amount increased to 34%. The author is Daniel J. Gustafon who is a director for the
Liaison Office for North America of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization
which makes him qualified to write on this topic. The intended audience of this article is those
doing research on this topic.

Manimunda, S., & Sugunan, A. (2017). Nutritional status of preschool children in Andaman and
Nicobar Islands and food insecurity, food groups, and nutrient consumption among population.
Indian Journal of Community Medicine, 42(2), 88.
https://doi:10.4103/ijcm.ijcm_249_15
This article is about food insecurity and malnourishment in preschoolers in India. It was done by
sampling random households of children aged 6-59 months, in total 1259 preschoolers were
examined. 27% of these children were food insecure, 36% were stunted, and 81% had anemia.
The author of this article is Sathya Prakash Manimunda, he works for the National Centre for
Disease Informatics and Research which makes qualified to write on this topic. Then intended
audience is those doing research about food insecurity in children in India.

Mastiholi, S. C., Somannavar, M. S., Vernekar, S. S., Kumar, S. Y., Dhaded, S. M., Herekar, V.
R., . . . Goudar, S. S. (2018). Food insecurity and nutritional status of preconception women in a
rural population of North Karnataka, India. Reproductive Health, 15(S1).
 https://doi:10.1186/s12978-018-0535-2

This article is about the nutritional status of women who are in the age of reproductivity. It is
important that these women have good nutrition because they produce the future generation of
children. It was found that 64.8% of the women belonged to lower socio-economic class and
27.4% suffered food insecurity. Of all the participants 78.4% had moderate anemia due to poor
nutrition. The author of this article is Shivanand C. Mastiholi, he has a masters degree in
community medicine making him qualified to write on this topic. The intended audience of this
article is those conducting research on food insecurity amongst women in India.

Nnakwe, N., & Yegammia, C. (2002). Prevalence of food insecurity among households with children
in Coimbatore, India. Nutrition Research, 22(9), 1009. https://doi-
org.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/10.1016/S0271-5317(02)00419-0

This article is about determining food insecurity and dietary patterns in households with children
and households without children. It was found that households that had no children 20% were
food insecure with no hunger, 23% were food insecure with hunger and 1% were severely
insecure. In households with children 13% were insecure with no hunger, 15% were insecure
with hunger and 30% were severely insecure. The author is Nweze Nnakwe, she was in the
College of Applied Science and Technology and Department of Family and Consumer Sciences
at Illinois State University. The intended audience of this article is those doing research on food
insecurity in India. This article is similar to the fourth source because they are both about finding
the amount of food insecurity in households.

Dharmaraju, N., Mauleshbhai, S., Arulappan, N., Thomas, B., Marconi, D., Mohan, V., & Paul, S.
(2018). Household food security in an urban slum: Determinants and trends. Journal of Family
Medicine & Primary Care, 7(4), 819–822. https://doi-
org.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpcpass:[_]185_17

This article is about food insecurity in urban slums located in India. Previous surveys have
reported up to 75% food insecurity in these slums. A new survey was done questioning 150
households and it was found that 26.7% were food insecure with no hunger and 30.6% were food
insecure with hunger. It was seen that those that were food secure increased from 25.4% to
42.7%. The author of this article is Nikitha Dharmaraju, I was unable to find their credentials.
The audience of this article is those seeking information on food insecurity in India.