A Snapshot of Food Accessibility and Dietary Diversity of Households in a Marginal Farmer Dominant Economy: A Study in Birbhum, West Bengal Bagchi Shibani1,*, Ghosh Archita2 1Department of Economics, City College of Commerce & Business Administration, Kolkata, West Bengal, India 2Department of Economics, University of Kalyani, West Bengal, India *Corresponding author: shibani.santiniketan@gmail.com (ORCID ID: 0000-0002-5604-7663)
Online Published on 25 October, 2023. Abstract Not even a decade remains to achieve the goal of ’Zero Hunger’ by 2030, adopted in the UN Summit of September 2015. In this perspective the present study, based on the field survey conducted during 2018, i.e., much before the COVID-19 pandemic, intends to analyse the extent of food accessibility of the households across different land-size classes in six villages of the district of Birbhum, West Bengal. The study reveals that the problem of food inaccessibility is faced mainly by households with no operational land, and by marginal and small farmers, who unfortunately constitute more than 97 percent of the sample households. Since dietary diversity of the households indicates their economic capability, the study also probes into that. It comes out from the study that there exists an inverse relation between the extent of food inaccessibility and dietary diversity scores of the households. Creation of sustainable employment opportunities is the only solution to overcome this misery. Highlights Households without operational land and marginal farmers suffer mostly from food inaccessibility and lack of dietary diversity. Policy for sustainable employment is urgently needed.
Top Keywords Marginal-farmer Dominant Economy, Zero Hunger, MPCE on Food, Minimum Food Basket, Dietary Diversity Score. Top |