THEME: A shift to market-oriented production can pose a risk to household food security, particularly over the short term

Rural households in traditional societies reduce their risk of food insecurity by producing their own food and diversifying their productive activities as much as possible. If one of the two methods fails, the other might succeed. Mixed cropping under shifting cultivation is therefore more risk averse than mono-cropping. Even if the food produced by mixed cropping is inadequate, and does not last a full year, at least families are not reliant on markets and prices. Usually women play a major role in both the production and the utilization aspect of household food security.

A 1996 study in Andhra Pradesh, India, argues that while a move to market-oriented production promises higher returns to labour and land, with potential for the creation of more income and food, it can also incur greater risks for food security. For one thing, market-oriented production concentrates the risk, particularly where market production is accompanied by a sizeable decrease in subsistence production, as when farmers have limited land and labour. Also, until the new cash crops start generating a profit, such a move can create an ad interim food-security gap. Finally, it weakens control by women.

Tribal households in Andhra Pradesh have few assets and often a single livelihood - subsistence production. Land and labour are scarce. These factors make households in the region extremely vulnerable. While the introduction of commercial production has resulted in some improvement in overall food consumption (30% of households reported an increase), it is much less than was expected, and notably less than the improvement seen under similar IFAD-supported projects in the region. Overall, food security has actually deteriorated for about half the households. The poorest households appeared to have been able to benefit the least. Drought and other factors have played a part. The food security gap was also aggravated by the lead time needed for the cash crops promoted by the project - usually longer-duration horticultural crops - to start generating income. But the study concluded that one important reason for these problems was women's weakened control over household food supply.

Overall, the IFAD study noted the following short-term results:

• Less land was available for growing food crops (because the land was being used for cash crops).
• The lack of land reduced the amount of food produced for the family, and decreased women's control over income and, therefore, the food supply (since women do not market commercial crops).
• Because there was no effective market access for poorer households, gains from cash crops ended up mainly in the hands of middlemen or moneylenders.
• Cash income led to greater alcoholism, which reduced the amount of income available for family food and used up a proportion of grains for distilling alcohol.
• Because of the decreased family food supply, women in many households had to decrease their own food intake, but at the same time work harder to earn income.
• Many of the 'beneficiaries' of the project have had to rely heavily on wage employment and the public distribution system for survival.

The study found that, with continuing food scarcity, particularly in the lean season, women tried to cope as best they could, usually depriving themselves. Where Thrift and Credit Groups were active, they benefited women and households. Unfortunately such groups have limited coverage. The same applies to grain banks. In most instances, the absence of support or contingency plans left poorer households and women without adequate coping mechanisms.

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The Andhra Pradesh experience argues that development projects that promote market-oriented production need to make sure that they leave poorer households with a buffer, or some way of ensuring a basic minimum level of food, rather than assuming that the market venture will necessarily succeed and supply all food needs. Those at greatest risk are the poorest households with limited land and labour, no livelihood diversification and insufficient financial resources to carry them through a fallow period until cash crops start generating a profit. An often unplanned result of such commercialization is the weakening of women's control over household food security, which, along with other factors, can lower women's acquirement of food. One option is to support viable women's income-earning activities, which can give women back some of the control and diversify the household's income sources and capacity to survive.

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References

• Nandini Azad. 1996. Engendered Mobilization - the Key to Livelihood Security: IFAD's Experience in South Asia. Rome: IFAD.
• Siddiqur Rahman Osmani. 1998. Food Security, Poverty and Women: Lessons from Rural Asia, Part I. Rome: IFAD/TAD, February.
• Asia and Pacific Division/IFAD, PCR. 2001. Andhra Pradesh Tribal Development Project. Rome, IFAD.