The interaction of household agricultural landholding and Caste on food security in rural Uttar Pradesh, India
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ORIGINAL PAPER
The interaction of household agricultural landholding and Caste on food security in rural Uttar Pradesh, India Srinivas Goli 1,2
&
Anu Rammohan 3 & Sri Priya Reddy 2
Received: 23 December 2019 / Accepted: 25 September 2020 # International Society for Plant Pathology and Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract Recent studies on the agriculture- nutrition disconnect and its implications for farming systems, especially in South Asia have revived the debate surrounding the relationship of food security to household agricultural landholding (HAL). In rural India, food security, HAL, and social hierarchy (Caste) are closely connected. However, lack of empirical research on their interlinkages creates a knowledge gap that limits the formulation of evidence-based policies. In this study, we use data from a unique survey of 5087 rural households in Uttar Pradesh (UP) state in India to empirically assess the links between Caste, HAL, and food security. Our analysis finds that, both independently and collectively, Caste and agricultural landholding have a significant bearing on household food insecurity levels. 94% of all food-insecure households report to hold no HAL or are holding marginal HAL. The predicted probability of food insecurity for households with no HAL is four times higher compared to medium-to-large HAL. Marginalised Castes (e.g. Hindu and Muslim Dalits) have three-to-four time higher chance of food insecurity compared to their counterparts. The interaction effects of Caste-HAL suggest that marginalised Castes with no landholding are the most vulnerable groups for food insecurity. Thus, we suggest considering the role of Caste and HAL based inequalities and their interaction effect in policies adopted by the state for ensuring accessibility and availability of food among households in rural UP. Keywords Food security . Household agricultural land . Caste . Rural area . India
1 Introduction Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-020-01109-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Srinivas Goli [email protected]; [email protected] Anu Rammohan [email protected] Sri Priya Reddy [email protected] 1
Australia India Institute NGN Research Fellow, The University of Western Australia (M251), 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
2
Centre for the Study of Regional Development, School of Social Sciences (SSS), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi 110067, India
3
Department of Economics, The University of Western Australia (M251), 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
The World Food Summit, 1996 (WFP 2005) defines Food Security as “when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life”. The above definition encompasses the availability, affordability, and accessibility of safe food for all people. The issue of insufficien
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