World’s worst food crisis of all times occurred in 1943, in the state of Bengal. The ‘Bengal Famine’ in British-India claimed over four million lives on the account of acute food shortage and mismanagement. Post-independence, among other most important priorities for India, was self-sufficiency in food. After a long period of sustained efforts from 1947 through 1967, India began witnessing its ‘Green Revolution’ fructifying.
India achieved self-sufficiency in food, produced a record 131 million tonnes of food grains in 1978-79, and became a net exporter of agricultural produce. Among the visible results of ‘Green Revolution,’ were increase in agricultural land under high-yield variety seeds (HYV) and a jump of over 30% in the yield per unit of farmland.
However, the latest findings by Credit Suisse in its report ‘Asian Food and Rural Income’ warns that India today stands on the brink of losing its much cherished self-sufficiency in food. Demand for food is likely to grow at a rate of 3-3.5% p.a. over the coming years, driven by population growth. The increase in the domestic food supply is at a much lower rate that leaves India open to the need to import food to meet its domestic demand.
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