1
Veroli Zhimo
One of the many effects of the COVID-19 in Nagaland has been to dramatically raise awareness of our food system – that is, the set of arrangements that determines how we access and consume food. Compared with education, health or infrastructure, food has rarely caught public attention as an area of public policy. But it is. The recent shortage of fresh farm produce in parts of the state, has put a new emphasis on the “key” roles performed by food industry workers and opened more people’s eyes to this.
While some may deem it too soon to predict with any confidence that the fragility of supply chains that has been revealed in recent weeks will lead to lasting changes, it is not too soon to assert that the future of our food security cannot be ignored.
The head of the World Food Programme warns that we are now on the brink of a hunger pandemic, with the prospect of multiple famines “of biblical proportions” within a few months, across three dozen countries.
In Nagaland, many households already struggling to survive, have lost the work that fed them. Remittances sent home by family members outside have also fallen by a considerable margin. Tourism has vanished. This widens the already staggering gap between rich and poor in terms of wealth and income and therefore access to food.
Already lockdown regulations and transport issues are disrupting food supply chains causing price rises, although details in the public domain are limited.
While the precise origins of COVID-19 remain uncertain, warnings about the risk of other outbreaks, like the African Swine Flu which has been reported in the neighbouring state of Assam must now be taken seriously. Nagaland's consumers who are well-known for their appetite for pork are widely understood to be unenthusiastic about the prospect of importing pigs from outside the state. Almost all the districts have banned the import of pigs, thereby, leaving consumers at the mercy of local pig farms which are small in number and capacity.
The Annual Administrative Report 2019-20 of the Department of Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Services (AH&VS) tabled in February this year, citing the Sample Survey Report of 2018-19, stated that the state produced 43.35% of the total requirement worth of Rs. 1219.70 crore leaving a shortfall of 56.65%.
Out of this shortfall, the state imported animal husbandry products worth of Rs. 212.03 crore in monetary terms.
COVID-19 is the latest and perhaps most immediate uncovering of the rose-tinted veil that masks a bitter reality: we have a massively fragile just-in-time supply chain which could easily collapse and a depleted agriculture sector which produces the bare minimum of the food we actually eat despite the number of schemes implemented in theory all round the state indicating that we could be producing more than enough to sustain food demands of our state.
In the Naga context, the conversation around how and what we eat often feels like it sits front and centre of the culture. However, broader environmental considerations of land use and biodiversity, food security and resilience have barely made it into the equation.
Our food system is complicated, as is the global one of which it is part, and change will not be easy.
But some beneficial effects should follow from our having been forced to take notice that what we grow and eat are the result of political choices.
Feedback and comments can be send to vzhimolimi@gmail.com
