In a world fast progressing in terms of scientific spirit, food and hunger alleviation are becoming lesser used words. Reports published in 2002 warned that as many as 38 million people were threatened with starvation-related deaths in Africa. Almost the same number of people, if not more are, may be, on the verge of starvation in Asia as well. The situation is fast deteriorating and India should learn from the agony and anguish of other less developed nations of Africa, and three Asian countries—Iraq, Afghanistan and North Korea. It is tragic that despite more than adequate food stocks in many countries, there seems to be grossly inadequate aid available for most of the hunger-prone regions of the world. India is among them. The problem is not only in terms of food available, but also about judicious distribution.

A Food and Agriculture Organisation report on State of Food Insecurity in the World, published last year, pointed out that 25,000 people die every day due to hunger and poverty. This is one of the world’s biggest human tragedies, but it is least taken note of.

India too faces a major problem of poverty and lack of micro-nutrients. According to economist and industrial analyst D. H. Pai Panandiker, a Japanese businessman once pointed out that productivity of labour is low in India and it could be because the Indian worker is not healthy enough. That problem has hardly been addressed. It is not that most people do not have enough to eat. But the food they eat misses out many essential nutrients.

More than a billion people in the world are exposed to micro-nutrient deficiencies. More than one-third of them are in India.

The World Bank and Asian Development Bank have estimated the loss in national income due to low productivity and absenteeism caused by different micro-nutrient deficiencies: Vitamin A has reduced national income by 1.4 per cent, iron deficiency by 1.25 per cent and iodine deficiency by 0.3 per cent. The total loss due to different micro-nutrient deficiencies in India is about five per cent of the GDP or currently about Rs. 1,00,000 crore.

It is undoubtedly a huge sum that could be recovered by fortifying processed foods available in the country. Salt and water could be fortified with iodine, wheat, flour, bread, milk and biscuits. Curry powder could be added with iron, fats and oils while milk products and tea could be fortified with vitamins at low cost. There have been reports in the recent past about continued and persistent food shortage in drought-prone areas like Kalahandi in Orissa and at least seven districts of Andhra Pradesh, where scarcity of water and food are chronic. Western Rajasthan is another case in point, where famine-like conditions are compelling migration, if not starvation and death.

Recently, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, rang an alarm bell about the situation in his country. Recalling that as many as one million people had perished in the severe famine of 1984, he believed that the number affected this time is potentially three times larger. The threat in Ethiopia extends to neighbouring Eriteria as well.