Food Consumption Dynamics and Nutritional Security in India: An Empirical Analysis

The paper has analysed the food consumption trends and pattern in India and has discussed the major driving forces responsible for the observed trends during the past two decades. The paper has also related these food consumption trends with nutritional status of the country. The information on food production, per-capita availability, consumption and nutritional intake was collected from various published sources. The paper has revealed that monthly per-capita consumption of food commodities was higher in urban than rural areas for food groups, except cereals. The consumption of all commodities, except cereals, has increased, in particular, consumption of edible oils, vegetables, eggs, fish and meat has more than doubled during the past two decades and has been relatively stagnant for pulses. Among cereals, consumers’ preference was centred on rice and wheat and diversifying from coarse cereals. The consumption of meat and chicken increased eight-times, while mutton consumption has declined. The demand driven factors like improved per-capita income, rapid urbanization and supply factors such as growth in food production coupled with social welfare programmes have led to the change in food consumption trend. The study has observed improvement in nutritional status.