Malnutrition amidst agrarian plenty

The Indian policymaker seems to suffer from the musk deer syndrome. The musk deer is a rare species that produces musk in its own body. But it does not realise this and searches endlessly for the source of the aroma.

India faces a similar dilemma. On the one hand, the country is producing foodgrain at historical surplus levels, and on the other farmers are giving up their lives owing to the farm crisis, poor monsoon and inappropriate policies. The country continues to rank high in the chart of nations with malnourishment issues.

A classic example A case in point is Madhya Pradesh. It has one of the highest levels of malnutrition in the country. One in three children in the State is underweight and over 40 per cent are stunted, whereas the national average is 29.4 per cent. Tribal children are the worst-hit with 46 per cent of them underweight and 49.7 per cent recording stunted growth. Despite various nutritional schemes and efforts put forward by the government, the State’s malnutrition level is comparable to that of African countries. Yet, the State has bagged the Krishi Karman Award for the third time in a row. 

This contradiction between a situation of agrarian plenty and poverty is explained by the growing crisis in soyabean production. Despite being a leading producer of wheat and soybean oil seed, farmers continue to struggle and the people are reeling under acute malnutrition. Foodgrain production in the State has posted double-digit growth making it the new wheat granary of India. With the highest soyabean production in the country, Madhya Pradesh is also known to be the soyabean bowl of India. It accounts for 60 per cent of the total production of soybean in the country.

India achieved near self-sufficiency in edible oil production due to the initiative taken by the oilseeds mission in the 1980s. However, with economic reforms taking place, the per capita consumption of oil increased. India produces 7.5 million tonnes of edible oil and imports almost double the quantity.

Soyabean farmers are facing a rough time with central and State governments offering little rate incentives and weather playing spoilsport. Since the harvesting of the crop this year, there have been cases of suicide every day. Ironically, the Madhya Pradesh government has initiated some preliminary discussions on advising farmers to take up alternative crops.

How the cash cow dried up A crop that was the cash cow for 25 years seems to have suddenly become a problem. This may have negative repercussions on the incumbent BJP government in the State as the majority of farmers in the Malwa region, a strong BJP belt, grow soyabean. To discontinue soyabean farming will increase dependency on imported edible oil.

Mahatma Gandhi advocated soyabean as a source of low-cost, high-quality protein for vegetarians. He ensured that soyabean was served to all members of his community at Maganwadi. and wrote several articles about soya foods.

RS Paroda, a noted agricultural scientist, recently said: “To tackle increasing malnutrition levels in children, the government should promote production and consumption of protein-rich soybean products like tofu and soya milk.”

The human consumption of soyabean never took off the way Gandhi envisioned due to a negative perception built around it. Currently, soyabean production is around 15 million tonnes. Of this, 10 per cent is used as seed for cultivation, while another 15-18 per cent is being processed as oil, while 70-75 per cent is used as animal feed.

The government should pilot a programme to distribute either soyabean mixed with wheat grain or fortified wheat flour to the beneficiaries of the PDS system. With successful results, this can be ramped up nationwide. This will improve the health indicators, indirectly saving 2-3 per cent of GDP due to loss of productivity and expenses on various nutritional programmes. In view of the acute shortfall of edible oil in the country, it makes sense to incentivise farmers to increase the area under oil seeds by raising the MSP. The musk deer syndrome must be tackled.

The writer is a social healthcare analyst

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