India is today seeing a virtual and complete collapse of food production. The foodgrain output for the last six years has been stagnant. The single reason leading to this has been liberal reform policies. The development state has become a “dalal for the corporates!”

This sums up the keynote address by Utsa Patnaik, noted economist, at the two-day workshop on ‘Food sovereignty: Can we make it a reality for India?'

The meet was organised by Green Foundation and Svaraj.

“The foodgrains availability was 200 kgs per capita in 1900 and this dropped to 130 kgs by the middle of the century. The first Plan period saw a rise to around 178 kgs but with the removal of all restrictions in agricultural import/export, our land and resources were diverted to meet global demands,” Patnaik said.

The only way to increase production was to increase yields but states have done nothing to aid the process. Instead they have increased cutbacks on the agri sector. The government's expenditure of 4 per cent on rural development was halved by mid 90s.

“We were a richer country but spending less. Every Rs 100 less that the State spent meant Rs 400 drop in incomes. It raised unemployment and saw a phenomenal drop in buying power.”

The reforms period saw exports rising and per capita output going down! In the 1998-2002 period, the PDS built up to 64 million tonnes stock against a normal buffer stock of 20 million tonnes.  “This was due to severe demand deflation, which meant greater hunger.

 The food stocks came from empty stomachs, and not from over production.”