AN ASSESSMENT OF FOOD SECURITY CONDITION AMONG SELECTED TRIBALS OF BODOLAND TERRITORIAL REGION OF ASSAM

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dc.contributor.advisorBarman, Utpal
dc.contributor.authorRabha, Lohita
dc.date.accessioned2024-06-29T16:35:49Z
dc.date.available2024-06-29T16:35:49Z
dc.date.issued2023
dc.description.abstractFood and nutrition security remain the world's biggest issues for human welfare and economic development. In the 21st century, many lack nutritious meals despite food security in many countries. India produces food, but food insecurity slows progress. The "triple effect of malnutrition" hurts India, which grows the most food grains. Despite many welfare programmes, Scheduled Tribe groups are the most disadvantaged. Most go hungry. Many ethnic tribes live in Assam. Assam faces food security issues due to poverty, food grain shortages, and nutritional ignorance. This study examined tribal food security in Assam's Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR). Food security of tribal’s of BTR has been compared. Food security in selected BTR tribes was examined. Food insecurity was also assessed by gender. Finally, government food security programmes for BTR tribal communities were evaluated. This study randomly sampled respondents. BTR randomly selected Udalguri and Baksa. Each section randomly selected two blocks. Ten villages per district were randomly selected from five tribe-dominated villages per block. Tribal respondents numbered 400. 204 Bodo and 196 Rabha responded. However, in case of objective 3, to evaluate the impact of food insecurity on gender, wives of the respondents were also selected as respondent. In this case, data related to female members were needed and for only that purpose wives of respondents (400 in numbers) were considered. As a result total number of respondents for objective 3 was increased to 800. Interviews with the researcher's interview guide collected data. The analysis included frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, coefficient of variation, class interval, food security index, shortfall/surplus index, head count index, Karl Pearson’s coefficient of correlation, multiple linear regression, and z-test. The analysis of profile characteristics revealed that, average age of Bodo and Rabha respondents was 46.46 years and 45.54 years respectively. Majority of respondent belonging to Bodo (35.78%) and Rabha (32.14%) tribes were illiterate. The average family size of Bodo respondents was five persons and 5.12 persons for Rabha respondents. Most Bodo (87.75%) and Rabha respondents (78.06%) had nuclear families. About (46.56%) of Bodo and (50.51%) of Rabha respondents depended on farming and labour as primary occupation. For (88.23%) of Bodo and (86.22%) of Rabha respondents, none of the family members were employed. The average land holding of Bodo and Rabha respondents was 1.18 ha and 0.98 ha respectively. For Bodo respondents, average annual income was ` 1,85,616.51 and crops provided their larger share of income (` 61,820.1). In case of Rabha respondent, average annual income was ` 1,86,526.63 and the highest portion of their income (` 49,662.47) was contributed by off-farm income. For both Bodo and Rabha respondent maximum expenditure was spent on farm operation (59.14% for Bodo and 53.16% for Rabha). Perceived food availability revealed that (77.45%) of Bodo and (72.96%) of Rabha respondents had food available in the household. The majority (57.84%) of Bodo and (65.30%) of Rabha respondents held debt. About (38.73%) of Bodo and (32.65%) of Rabha respondents were accessed to credit. Most Bodo (88.73%) and Rabha (95.92%) respondents had drinking water facilities within their households. For (50.49%) of Bodo and (50.00%) of Rabha respondent, government hand pump/well was the source of drinking water. Most of the Bodo (80.88%) and Rabha respondent (81.63%) were access to PDS, about (57.35%) of Bodo and (54.08%) of Rabha respondents lost their cultivable land. Majority (58.82%) of the Bodo and (58.16%) of Rabha respondents used food grain to prepare alcoholic beverages. In case of both Bodo and Rabha respondents, (100.00%) of them consumed cereal daily as a staple food but its consumption was only (57.69%) and (58.35%) of the recommendation by Bodo and Rabha tribe respectively. Total calorie obtained by Bodo and Rabha respondents from the consumption of different food items was 994.64 kcal/AE/day and (985.50 kcal/AE/day) respectively. Overall Bodo and Rabha respondents were food insecure, with respective index values of 0.415 and 0.411. The z test result revealed no significant difference between overall Bodo and Rabha respondents in food security condition. In contrast, analysis of the food security situation from among the respondents revealed that (19.60%) of Bodo and (19.88%) of Rabha respondents were food secure. Majority (80.39%) of Bodo respondents were food insecure, with an index value of 0.27. The average per capita calorie intake of food-insecure households was 653.89 kcal and fell short by (72.75%) of the calorie requirement. The remaining (19.60%) of respondents had adequate food supplies. Food secure household consumed average 2401.23 kcal per day and had a food security index of 1. They exceeded the calorie requirement by (0.05%). In case of Rabha respondents, (19.88%) were food secure with an index value of 1, while the majority (82.14%) was food insecure with an index value of 0.28. The average daily calorie intake per person in the food-secure Rabha respondent was 2,401.01 kcal and exceeded the calorie requirement by (0.04%). Average daily calorie intake per capita for food insecure Rabha respondents was 679.99 kcal and was fell short by (71.66%) of calorie requirement. Education of household head, employed members in the respondent’s household, annual income, operational landholding, food expenditure, access to credit, perceived food availability, drinking water facility at home were positively and significantly correlated with food security status among Bodo respondents, as determined by correlation analysis. However, the variables like age of household head, family size, family type, loss of cultivable land, indebtedness, foodgrain used for liquor preparation were negatively and significantly correlated with food security status. In case of Rabha respondent, education of household head, employed members in the respondent’s household, annual income, operational landholding, food expenditure, access to credit, perceived food availability were positively and significantly correlated with food security status. But, variables like age of household head, family size, loss of cultivable land, foodgrain used for liquor preparation were negatively and significantly correlated with food security status. A Multiple Linear Regression analysis showed that Co-efficient of determination (R2) for Bodo respondent was 0.737 and 0.806 for Rabha respondents depicting about model's explanatory variables explained (73.70%) and (80.60%) of variation in the food security status of Bodo and Rabha respondent respectively. Variables such as age of household head, family size, employed members in the respondent’s household, annual income, access to credit, loss of cultivable land, indebtedness and access to Public Distribution System were significant in explaining the variation in food security status among Bodo respondents. In the case of Rabha respondents, however, age of household head, family size, employed members in the respondent’s household, annual income and operational landholding were significant indicators of food security. In case of Bodo respondent, among the different impact of food insecurity significant difference was observed between male and female concerning migration (z value=15.64**), chronic energy deficiency (z value= -12.10**) and thinness (z value= -1.81***). Similarly, Rabha respondents showed significant differences between males and females in migration (z value= 15.50**) and chronic energy deficiency (z value= -12.36**). Concerning the different government initiatives considered under study, the respondents received benefits less than their entitlements in case of Antodaya Anna Yojana, Priority household, Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, PM-KISAN, Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojna, Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin, etc. Moreover, in case of MGNREGA, the highest proportion (99.06%) of the respondent received an average of 22 days of employment per year instead of 100 days of employment in a year as was guaranteed in the scheme. Therefore, the study suggested that people should be educated on the importance of consuming various foods to meet their calorie requirements. To ensure that food is available and accessible to all, the government must take both immediate and long-term measures. Policies in multiple sectors (agricultural, credit, and labour markets) must acknowledge women as equal workers and contributors to household food security and the overall household economy by ensuring equal access to resources, services, and labour returns. Implementation issues with various schemes can be resolved by employing interventions that are scheme specific. Key areas that require attention are identifying target homes, modernization of the delivery system, and efficient monitoring of the food security programme.
dc.identifier.urihttps://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810211208
dc.language.isoEnglish
dc.subAgricultural Extension Education
dc.themeAN ASSESSMENT OF FOOD SECURITY CONDITION AMONG SELECTED TRIBALS OF BODOLAND TERRITORIAL REGION OF ASSAM
dc.these.typePh.D
dc.titleAN ASSESSMENT OF FOOD SECURITY CONDITION AMONG SELECTED TRIBALS OF BODOLAND TERRITORIAL REGION OF ASSAM
dc.typeThesis
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