Book review: Food Security Atlas of Rural Odisha 2018 and Food Security Atlas of Rural Bihar 2018

Abstract

Food Security Atlas of Rural Odisha 2018 and Food Security Atlas of Rural Bihar 2018 . Mumbai: Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research and New Delhi: Institute for Human Development.

Continuing with its work on district-level analysis and mappings of food security, the Institute for Human Development (IHD), New Delhi, in partnership with Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, has come up with two new food security atlases—for Odisha and Bihar. IHD prepared the earlier editions of Odisha and Bihar Atlases (published in 2008 and 2009, respectively) as part of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) follow-up work on Food Insecurity Atlas of Rural India. The current reports are a collaborative outcome based on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation-supported project on “System of Promoting Appropriate National Dynamism for Agriculture and Nutrition” (SPANDAN).

The current atlases, like its earlier versions, have used the Food and Agriculture Organisation’s conceptual framework of food security as the basis for identifying the dimensions and indicators of food security. Four dimensions of food security—availability, accessibility, absorption and stability—are taken up for the analysis. A Food and Nutrition Security Index is calculated based on consistently available data. While the reports discuss issues of food stability, the final index does not include data on food stability due to data limitations. An overall Food Security Index and Food Security Outcome (FSO) Index have been worked out to come up with an aggregated picture at the district level. There are five food insecurity groups: extremely insecure, severely insecure, moderately insecure, moderately secure and secure. Districts falling under the first two categories (extremely insecure and severely insecure) are the priority districts calling for appropriately designed food security intervention policies.

Methods

The method of calculation of the Food Security Index is the same as followed in the earlier Atlases. The dimension indices calculations use the range equalisation method (REM; max-min approach). The principal component analysis has been followed to deal with a high degree of correlation between variables and identify the principal components. The 2018 Atlases use an additional method of calculation of index values along with the REM, that is, the mean standardisation method (MSM). The indices so calculated are called the Food and Nutrition Security Index (or FSI) based on input indicators.

An FSO Index based on two standard child nutrition-related variables is also calculated. The variables are under-five mortality rate (U5MR) and child underweight (which is weight for age calculated at μ – 2). The Outcome Index is calculated using both REM and MSM. A correlation between FSI and FSO was worked out culminating in a composite index and grouping districts into five food-security categories.

Odisha

As expected, and like the earlier analyses, the coastal districts (Kendrapara, Khordha, Cuttack, Bhadrak, Puri and Jagatsinghpur) of Odisha are highlighted as the most food-secure districts, whereas the severely and extremely food insecure districts are mainly the western and southern districts. Between 2008–2009 and 2016–2017, 60 per cent of the districts in Odisha do not seem to have altered their position towards better or worse in terms of their food security status. The rest of the districts mostly seem to have made some progress. The progressive districts include the three coastal districts of Khordha, Cuttack and Kendrapara, the northern districts of Sundargarh, Kendujhar and Anugul, the southern district of Ganjam and the western district of Jharsuguda. Koraput and Malkangiri—two of the ever ailing KBK districts—seem to have slipped in their rankings to the extremely food insecure category. Among the KBK districts, while Koraput and Malkangiri slipped in their rankings, district Nabarangpur showed a marked improvement in food security input indicators. The correlation between input indicators and outcome indicators is shown to be very high for Odisha, thus reinforcing the need to connect policy formulation with successful welfare interventions. Important policy variables (or indicators showing high variance across districts) identified for Odisha are literacy rates, dependency ratios and vulnerable status of marginal social groups, particularly, Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes.

Bihar

Of Bihar’s 38 districts, 17 are in the priority list. Districts flagged off as showing alarming levels of food insecurity based on both input and output indicators are Jamui, Araria, Gaya, and Purnia. The other priority districts that rank low either in input or output indicators are Supaul, Darbhanga, Pashchim Champaran, Katihar, Banka, Sheikhpura, Patna, Sitamarhi, Nalanda, Nawada, Madhepura, Aurangabad and Arwal. The most food-secure districts of Bihar are Jehanabad, Patna, Rohtas, Vaishali, Arwal, Siwan and Bhojpur. Based on the food security indicators, the report identifies essential policy variables that need government attention. The weak indicators (or policy variables) for Bihar are low female literacy, low ratio of the working-age population, the prevalence of diarrhoea among children in the two weeks preceding the survey, access to toilet facilities, low percentage of non-agricultural labourers and low proportion of net irrigated area to net sown area. The report urges the attention of the government in these areas.

Policy Impact

The 2018 reports provide detailed discussions on the changes in food security status among the districts since 2008. The writing of the report addresses policymakers and identifies policy variables that can provide a roadmap for government interventions. It is useful to read the 2018 Odisha and Bihar Atlases along with the 2008–2009 reports as district factsheets. Both government and non-government agencies can use them to aid district-level plans. Such disaggregated level analysis at the state level has now travelled some distance since it was envisaged in the late 1990s and the early 2000s by the World Food Programme. Whether governments consider these reports as policy documents is another matter. Repeat works on these Atlases may consider case studies from the ground to back the secondary data and in the process, pack the report with more engaging matter.