‘Price rise pushing Indians to poverty’

Not having enough to eat is a reality for half of India’s 1.1 billion people.

Not having enough to eat is a reality for half of India’s 1.1 billion people. But with a sharp surge in food prices, more could join the ranks, undoing the gains from the country’s rapid economic expansion, experts warned on the eve of World Food Day. Three reports, being released through this week, paint a grim picture of food security in India.

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Hunger stalks every Indian state and the percentage of malnourished, about 50 per cent is worse than some sub-Saharan countries, the reports said. And if food prices continue to rise, more could be pushed back to poverty.

“We don’t yet have a specific estimation on the impact of rising food prices in the past one year or so on net buyers of food. But the continued spike in prices may push more Indians into poverty,” said Gavin Wall, India representative of UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation.

India has more hungry people than any other country and this (price rise) could punch holes in its growth story, said Purnima Menon of the International Food Policy Research Institute, which released a state-wide hunger index on Tuesday.

“If India does not invest more in agriculture, it could be potentially exposed such a reversal of development,” said Nisha Agrawal, CEO of Oxfam India.

While the broader economy has averaged close to 9 per cent growth annually over the past four years, agriculture has been growing just over 2 per cent a year.