Impact of covid-19 on food grain stock and per capita availability in Andhra Pradesh, India: A critical analysis

Food security is described by the World Food Summit of 1996 as having physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that fits their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life at all times. National Food Security Act of 2013 defined as a condition that ensures assured economic and social access to adequate food for all people in the country at all times, in fulfillment of their fundamental right to live in dignity. Indian economy has been facing many socio-economic problems before the Covid-19 lockdown struck. In fact, it remains a subject of concern before and after independence. However, the problem of food insecurity, undernourishment, starvation, hunger deaths etc. was modest at best. The Covid-19 pandemic is affecting India's long-cherishedfood security. It has had an impact on all four dimensions offood availability, access, stability, and utilization. The purpose of this study was to examine the food security situation in Andhra Pradesh (AP) in terms of total stock of food grains with FCI and State Agencies and to assess per capita food grain availability during the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as to provide a policy prescription for achieving food security. The study is based on secondary data which drawn from the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Economic survey reports, and other relevant sources of information and it then establishes a conceptual and empirical framework for the status offood grains stock in AP with FCI and State Agencies and analysed in detail throughout the lockdown. Since2020 to 2022, rice stock with FCI in AP has gradually decreased from 5.93 to 3.94 lakh MT and In India, rice stock reached FCI 206.76 MT in 2020, dropped to 163.81 MT in 2021, and thereafter increased to 187.32 MT on January 1, 2022.According to data, FCI procurement has considerably beyond the buffer stock limit and more food grain reserves than required by January 1, 2021, which indicates there is a continuous procurement of food grains but there is a significant problem in the distribution process.