Western powers claim to be part of the civilised world. They cite their willingness to feed the third world as a reason for their legitimacy. But, as it turns out they are not actually committed towards feeding the hungry part of the world. Nothing else explains their unwillingness to engage India on a large scale in feeding the world.
Hunger crisis worsens
According to a report titled “The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World”, released by the United Nations, more than 2.3 billion people found it difficult to fulfil their nutrient requirement in 2021. It is pertinent to note that the data was prepared before the Ukraine-Russia crisis kicked in. The situation is grimmer for over 345 million people, as they are approaching starvation. Moreover, 50 million people in 45 countries are facing the risk of famine.
Warning that the situation could lead the world towards chaos, David Beasley, Executive Director of World Food programme said, “The global price spikes in food, fuel and fertilizers that we are seeing as a result of the crisis in Ukraine threatened to push countries around the world into famine. The result will be global destabilization, starvation and mass migration on an unprecedented scale.”
Reason behind the crisis and India’s last minute intervention
Apparently, the food and hunger problem was exacerbated by Covid-19. The disrupted supply chain made it tough for the undernourished geographies to obtain food at cheaper prices. Western Countries stocking more and more resources further increased the problem.
And then came the Ukraine-Russia war. It acted as the final nail in the coffin. Ukraine and Russia were the top 2 suppliers of wheat and barley. Similarly, Russia and Belarus stand at number 2 and number 3 respectively when it comes to producing potash, a key ingredient of fertilizer used to grow crop.
As a result of which, India had to step in. The increased demand for made-in-India wheat transformed into India exporting 70 million tons of wheat all over the world.
To put things in perspective, India had exported only 21.55 million tons wheat in the previous financial year. It was more than a whopping 300 per cent increase over the previous year. The increased pressure sustained in the new financial year as well. The country was slated to export nearly half of 70 million tons in only 4 months of April-July quarters.
Too much pressure on India
But, hoarding of Indian wheat by Chinese complicated the issue. On the other hand, due to increased heat in March, we suffered from loss of crop as well. Though, the loss has proved to be not so big so that it could hamper our export prospects.
However, it does mean that India required more regulatory support from countries and organisations putting moral pressure to export grains from India. More precisely, what India needs the world to do is accept the crop produce eaten by more than 1.3 billion Indians as healthy and good for citizens not having Indian passports.
It is unfortunate that our farmers are taking on the responsibility of feeding the world and in spite of having everything in order; they have to deal with trivial issues, in order to have “export ready grains”.
Read more: The real reason why India temporarily stopped exporting wheat
West needs to make it easy for India
Moreover, world trade regimes also need to accept India’s demands of liberalising global trade in developing countries’ favour. More precisely, by eliminating the peace clause in the WTO’s relations with India, the forum can ensure that India is incentivised to produce much more crops compared to its current production.
Only when the Indian government is not constrained by international order to assist its farmers, will it be able to provide proper food subsidy and other benefits, to ensure farmers’ income, which will further boost India’s food exports. Simultaneously, the revenue generated from price realisation, due to food exports, will provide more leeway for India in providing food grains to countries like Sri Lanka and Haiti among others.
The ball is in the Western countries’ Courts. Time and again India has said that it can feed the world. It is now the “west’s game to lose”. India has done everything it could.
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