Planning interventions to address food insecurity: a case of resettlement colony in Delhi

Abstract

World‗s population is becoming concentrated in and around large cities. Hence ensuring access to food to everyone could be a global challenge, certainly one of the highest orders. The Global Commission on Adaptation has identified ‗Food‘ as one of the systems that require actionable recommendations to address the 30% decline in crop yield by 2050. India, the world‗s largest democracy is beset with several problems that make urban life difficult due to the persisting food insecurity, which coexists with poverty. Lack of income, illiteracy, homelessness, inadequate housing, unsafe environment, social discrimination is some of the factors that aggravate the food security issues. It is estimated that by 2050, 50% of the Indian population is expected to live in and around cities, and hence these problems are bound to intensify manifolds. Urban food insecurity needs serious attention as the ubiquity of slums and resettlement colonies caused by the unforeseen migration of rural poor to urban areas in search of livelihoods. Conventionally, food security has always been linked to agrarian distress or by the lack of availability of food in rural areas. Urban expansion has consequences for food security in terms of changing food consumption patterns with increase in consumption of processed foods. This thesis acts mainly as the foundation for tackling food shortage problems in the metropolitan environment at a level that is as local as a relocation/ resettlement colony, and seeks out ways to solve them through urban farming initiatives and public engagement. To proceed with the study, urban food insecurity; and urban agriculture were identified as the primary research areas, followed by conceptualization, literature review and formulation of aim and objectives. The objectives that have been set for this study are to identify households that are food insecure; severity of food insecurity and the factors that caused the same; followed by planning interventions to address prevailing food insecurity. The site selection was carried out by looking into the background of formation of resettlement colonies in and around the city, and selecting one where food insecurity and the factors responsible for the same exist. An extensive data collection- both primary and secondary was carried out toevaluate the presence of food insecurity, analyze the severity and draw inferences. The collected data was computed using several tools inspired by the literature review and using the opinions of the experts consulted in the data collection process. Moreover, the analysis has been carried out as per the objectives of the study, in order to ensure all the outcomes of the respective objectives are met. Whatever has been suggested for the chosen resettlement area can be translated into a permanent means to address food insecurity. Urban farming interventions can play a significant role to address food security issues of an urban resettlement colony. As an important tool for urban sustainability, urban agriculture practices can benefit urban poor and affluent urban residents by addressing food gaps, having a positive impact on urban development, and improving quality of life and livelihoods through increased employment opportunities and improved access to quality food and social opportunities. Since, majorly these migrants come from an agricultural background, it is advantageous to make use of their farming skills in urban agricultural practices and hence provide them an opportunity to secure their food and nutritional needs.