Eat what you can, Can what you can’t

Unfazed by the grim reality of the last citizen in the land having no access to food in a measure adequate to keep the soul and limbs ticking  together, sources both in the government and informed circles take fascination to play around with their perception of food production in the country, its monetary value, extent of loss even before the produce reaches the warehouse, steadily rising total quantity year-on-year, factors impacting the return on the labour and expenditure incurred by the farming fraternity, food security concerns, boundless opportunities for job creation in the food processing industry, policy on land use for various crops, export prospects, achieving global norms for quality of packaged food products and so on leaving a section of the aam janata unconcerned and the rest bewildered.

While the importance bestowed upon the food needs of the country’s human population is a tad delicate to be questioned, the needs of other life forms, particularly the land’s livestock, not to forget the aquatic fauna which also contributes to the nation’s food basket, and denizens of the forests seem to have been missed in the circles of experts as well as government agencies — an unquestionable Himalayan blunder.

While the vision on the myriad issues concerning food from urban spaces remains blurred, especially lack of sensitivity towards the all-too-well-known problems bugging the farming fraternity such as a) access to basic needs of life (shelter, water, healthcare, diet), b) connectivity with urban markets, c) ware-housing, d) working capital, e) menace of middle men (commission agents), f) evil influence of the political class playing with caste cards, g) dominance of dishonest bureaucrats, h) allurements to which the urban youth have fallen prey and what have you, the nation’s diaspora taking residence in towns and cities across the land lives in their dream world that their cushy life will last for ever.

In the foregoing backdrop, the least that the stock-holders of the food sector owe to the tilling, toiling millions is to take up the task of safe-keeping of their produce. The just announced measure of constructing cold-store chains across the nation augurs well for the future of the nation’s food basket.