Abstract
This article is the first of a new, regular manuscript type to be published in the Food and Nutrition Bulletin. Field Reports are rapid assessments, situation analyses, or commentaries that bring to light issues of current or imminent concern with respect to global nutrition. They will be published quickly in online form and subsequently in the next regular print issue.
The authors of this article report the results of a rapid field assessment conducted under challenging circumstances in the midst of a pandemic. The gravity of the reported conditions highlights the urgency of publishing assessments during humanitarian crises, when typical timeliness and editorial requirements can make publication as a conventional peer-reviewed research article impractical. In addition to the Field Report, the authors have communicated with us a set of actions, included here by way of commentary, that they believe will help to improve food security in southern Rajasthan and similar migration-dependent populations.
Strengthen the public distribution system (PDS) and add more nutritious foods: Although a universal provisioning of food grains to all until November 2020 was announced, it needs to be ensured that the same happens on the ground. There is an urgent need to add more nutritious foods, such as pulses and oil, in the basket of PDS. This is already being done in some parts of the country and needs to be expanded urgently to cover more of the vulnerable populations.
Expand the network of fair price shops: Most cities have a network of fair price shops which ensure availability, and to some degree stability, of prices of nonperishable food items. Kendriya Bhandaar in Delhi and Upbhokta Kendra in Rajasthan are good examples. Smaller towns do not have such stores, making the populations vulnerable to stockouts of such items and to large variations in prices. Such stores need to grow and reach more small towns and large villages.
Bring back a focus on agriculture and livestock: In our study, local production of food contributed to most of the available cereals, vegetables, fruits, and milk or milk products. Given the distances, limited travel options, and scarcity of cash, local production of nutritious foods will continue to have an important role in promoting food security. Over the years, attention has gradually moved away from agriculture and livestock, and this needs to be brought back urgently.
Extra attention to special groups: Although the above measures will help improve food security, the task at hand is huge. Extra vulnerable groups, such as young children, pregnant women, and tuberculosis (TB) patients will need extra attention. Re-energizing the anganwadis, and nutrition supplementation of TB patients, are important measures which need to go hand in hand to ensure food security to these groups.
This Field Report identifying a region at risk for humanitarian crisis recalls the FNB’s history as the journal of record of the United Nations University’s World Hunger Programme, in cooperation with the United Nations (UN) Sub-Committee on Nutrition. Our mandate under these bodies included raising global attention to urgent nutrition issues in addition to academic research, commentaries, and summaries of prominent white papers from within the UN and CGIAR systems. The editors are glad to resume this tradition during a critical period in which at-risk populations globally are experiencing increasing stress and rising food and nutrition insecurity.