Lecture on food security by Dr. P. V. Sateesh, DDS

1. FOOD SOVEREIGNTY
AND
BIODIVERSITY

2. FOOD SOVEREIGNTY
FOOD SECURITY
• Most important driving force behind
NGO moment
• Making people food secure: major
discourse in ’80s & ’90s
• Many ways of tackling food security
• Enlarged into livelihood security in
recent times

3. FOOD SOVEREIGNTY
• 1996. World Food Summit in Rome
• Large countries of the North made
very little commitment
• Trade as a means of food security
• Ground being readied for TNCs

4. FOOD SOVEREIGNTY
• World food trade runs into hundreds
of billion dollars
• Food & seed as new tools for
imperialism
• Sends alarm bells around the world

5. FOOD SOVEREIGNTY
• Discourse shifts to Food
Sovereignty
• A term coined by Via Campasina
• One’s right to produce one’s own
food in one’s own location
• Community food sovereignty

6. FOOD SOVEREIGNTY
• Denying food that is culturally
appropriate is a political act
• In opposition, food sovereignty
emphasises on the right to produce
food at ones own location,
appropriate to ecology and culture

7. FOOD SOVEREIGNTY
• …implies ecological techniques and
stewardship of agriculture,
agricultural biodiversity, moving
away from intensive agriculture,
creation of rural employment and
diverse food cultures.

8. FOOD SOVEREIGNTY
• At the national and local levels it
advocates Farmers' Control Regime that
involves access to land, farmers’ control
over seed and ending women's
exclusion. Farmers’ control regime also
means No Patents on Life as well as
farmers’ access to markets

9. FOOD SOVEREIGNTY
• At the global level it wants reform in
global food trade which involves
ensuring end to "dumping" and
subsidies for intensive agriculture.
Ensuring fair prices for farmers and
protecting local markets. Preference for
domestic food crops before export
crops.

10. CROPS OF TRUTH
BIODIVERSITY
BASED
PRODUCTION
SYSTEM OF
DECCAN, INDIA

11. Farmers’ Perceptions
• Moisture
requirements
• High storability
• No weeding
required
• Tasty foods

12. Farmers’ Perceptions
• Cooking quality
• Commercial
value
• High
productivity

13. MOISTURE REQUIREMENT
• Pesari & Minumu are
comparatively delicate
and need the first few
heavy showers of the
monsoon. Therefore,
they are sown during
the first fortnight of the
Mirgam

14. MOISTURE REQUIREMENT
• Crops like lentils
are sown on low-
lying areas where
there is extra
moisture present
in the soil.

15. MOISTURE REQUIREMENT
Little Millet and Niger
demand the least soil
moisture; sown in the
fifth or sixth fortnight,
in Asaleru, almost 10
weeks after monsoon,
especially if rains fail
to arrive.

16. DETERMINANTS
• High storability
Foxtail millet, Kodo millet, Little millet
• Tastiest foods
Pigeonpea daal, Pearl millet roti and
Foxtail millet
• Suitable for particular soil types
Pigeonpea

17. STORABILITY, TASTE

18. DETERMINANTS
• Most fertile soils needed
Chilli and Sunflower
• High commercial value
Pigeonpea and Sesame
• Highly productive[barkath]
Bishop’s weed

19. MARKET & PRODUCTIVITY

20. DETERMINANTS
• Soil types
Black soils : Sorghum, chickpea,
mustard
Red soils, Pachajonna, pigeonpea and
hibiscus.
Extent of soil type determines crop mix.

21. DETERMINANTS

22. DETERMINANTS
• Need to raise two or more crops during
a year
To optimise production farmers go for the best
crop mix within their multiple cropping system.
On black soils they grow green and black
grams during the rainy Kharif and harvest
them in about three months. A range of winter
crops are planted in the same space.

23. OPTIMISING
PRODUCTION

24. DETERMINANTS
• Crop durations
Gareeb Jonna, an early maturing variety of
sorghum is grown because it is harvested
within three months of sowing. At this point
of time there is hunger at home. All the dry
fodder would be over and the cattle would
begin to starve. Foxtail millet and Gareeb
Jonna are grown to meet both these food and
fodder needs.

25. ANSWERING HUNGER

26. DETERMINANTS
• Need for fodder Sorghum, pearl millet,
Cowpea, dollichos etc.
• Need for cash Bishop’s Weed
• Food security Kharif sorghum
• Fuel wood Pigeonpea
• Thatching/fencing material
• Need for fibre Amaranthus, Sunhemp

27. FOOD & FIBRE

28. DETERMINANTS
• Special foods for specific festivals
Pyalala Jonna (Popping Sorghum) which is
used in Nagula Panchami
• Rejuvenating soil fertility and ‘strength’
Niger, horsegram
• Need for oil
Safflower

29. FOR SOIL & OIL

30. DETERMINANTS
• Need to prepare land for the next crop
Sunhemp
• Medicinal properties
Mustard, Traditional sugarcane, Korra
• To ward off/reduce pest incidence
Marigold

31. MEDICINE & PESTS

32. DETERMINANTS
• Most prone to pest attack
Pigeonpea, field beans and Dolichos lablab
• Most labour involved [in processing]
Little Millet and Foxtail millet
• No Weeding required
Niger and Sunhemp

33. DETERMINANTS

34. DIVERSITY & CULTURE
• Pyalala jonna
For Nagula Panchami
• Korralu
For Peddala Amavasya
• Chickpea
For Polelu for many
festivals

35. DIVERSITY & CULTURE
• GATLU, THE
GERMINATION
RITUAL
• SOONYAM
PANDUGA,
CHECKING THE
GROWTH

36. DIVERSITY & CULTURE
ENDLAGATTE
PUNNAM
• To show how
many varieties are
grown on my
field; and to thank
Goddess for
these varieties

37. SEED SELECTION
• Vaasana, the odour
• Vanne, the colour
• The grain
appearance
• The size