Climate change threat in the context of food security challenges in India

Climate change acts as a threat multiplier, making the challenges of sustainable food security more difficult. For millions of people in the developing countries the major issue is how to face the threat to their food security and livelihood as climate change unfolds. Hence the developing countries have to face the dual challenges of climate change and food security. One very important reason why these nations are more vulnerable to climate change is because their infrastructure is not strong enough and extensive to withstand the deleterious impacts. Thus climate change is a major challenge to food and agriculture because it negatively affects the basic elements of food production. More broadly it affects all the dimensions of food security, 1. Availability (physical access). 2. Accessibility (economic access) 3.Absorption (nutritional outcomes). The Global Hunger Index 2010 estimates that the number of hungry people increased to 1.02 billion in 2009 from 854 million people in 2006.Undernourishment captures an access-adjusted perspective of food insecurity. India has 40%of world's malnourished children under the age of five years of age. The devastating cycle of malnutrition has continued to alarming levels in India as identified by the 2008 India State Hunger Index (ISHI) released by IFPRI. This paper is an attempt to discuss the present food security and climate change scenario in India to highlight the various challenges facing food security attainment.