Food Shortages Loom in India!

• Is the world heading towards famine? It looks more than likely. There are sufficient evidence to suggest that we are headed for global famine some time next year. News24 reports :
   
  New Delhi – Millions of poor villagers across southern India are facing an imminent food shortage following months of intense drought and recent devastating floods, aid agencies warned on Thursday. The worst floods to hit the southern Indian states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh in a century have killed about 280 people, destroyed or washed away millions of acres of cropland and contaminated grain stocks in millions of homes.
   
  “Floods and drought have set back India’s fight against poverty by years,” said Jayakumar Christian, director of World Vision India, an aid agency working in the region. The state government of Andhra Pradesh, one of India’s traditional rice-bowls, said food grain production in the state was expected to plummet by more than 900 000 tons due to the floods. “Rice and other crops in an area of 260 000 hectares have been destroyed,” state Agriculture Minister N Raghuveera Rao said.
   
  Worst timing
  The floods came at a critical time when many farmers had sowed their winter crops and much of this has been washed away or damaged, Rao said. The government has not announced plans to help residents deal with food shortages.
   
  There were concerns among aid workers that the damage would likely set off a wave of migration to nearby towns and cities as farm workers, whose homes were destroyed and farmlands unfit for cultivation, tried to earn a living.
   
  Aid agency ACT International has appealed for support for relief operations in the region, saying it was at risk of severe shortages due to the floods. “India is entering a period of severe food vulnerability,” Christian said by telephone from Bijapur in northern Karnataka.
   
  At least 220 people were killed in Karnataka and another 63 in Andhra Pradesh. More than 1.5 million people in relief camps across both states were beginning to trek back to their homes as the skies cleared after nearly a week of torrential downpours.
   
  “Everything we owned is destroyed,” wailed Anjanamma, an impoverished farm worker in Chickmanchal village in northern Karnataka. She said the family’s annual stock of rice and lentils were soaked and inedible.
   
• DNAIndia reports on the drought in India :
   
  Worst drought, worse to come
  New Delhi: The monsoon season leaves India not just with the worst drought in decades but a sombre forecast for future. In terms of affected area, this year’s drought is the worst since 1918. Conditions surpass the one in 1972, considered the worst post-independence drought year.
   
  The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) reported deficient monsoon, with rain shortfall at 22%. Moreover, the area under deficient rainfall covers 56% of the country’s districts, the IMD said.
   
  When there is more than 10% rainfall deficiency, and more than 20% of the area is under dry weather, it is an “all-India drought”. A “widespread drought” is when there is more than 10% deficiency, affecting more than 20% of the geographical area of the country. This year, there’s 20% rainfall deficiency which has affected more than 50% of the area.
   
  In the past 123 years, there have been 25 years of widespread drought. In terms of spread, the one in 1918 was the most severe, affecting more than 70% of the area, followed by 1899 (68.4%), 1877 (59.4%), 1972 (52.6%) and 1987 (47.7%). In 2002, rainfall deficiency was 19%, and 29% of India was under drought.
   
• See also :
   
  Is World Hunger About To Start In India? Food Shortages Coming to America? Global Starvation Imminent as US Faces Crop Failure?

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