Food, Fodder and Families

 Anna and I were driving back to Pondicherry from Kerala last week end and were disturbed by some sights on our way.

The headline in the news paper, that morning, was about the government of India allocating 1900 crores of rupees to contain the drought in five states. There were pictures of animal rescue homes set up in Satara district in Maharashtra, to save animals from perishing due to lack of food and water. It was good to see some government initiatives to respond to a challenge ahead.

We too had a feel of the terrible state of affairs in rural parts even in Tamil Nadu where families struggle for food and fodder.

The two ladies harvesting their millet crop will have to depend upon this grain store to sustain their families as rice crop has failed due to poor rain fall. It is unthinkable for people in Tamil Nadu to think of food without rice or rice based preparations. However, few kilometers away was a yard where paddy collected during the previous harvest season was kept open without any shelter. This will be the reserve food for thousands of people during this current drought season. However about 30 percent of food stored in such open shelters are not often usable after one season. Also, this grain stock does not reach the needy on time due to our poor distribution system. 

Then we were struck by sheep grazing on dry grass. We saw several such flock having to feed on dry grass. The green leaves on the trees are their only means for survival for a long time. The milk yield has dropped and if the families were to sell them for meat, they will suffer loss as the sheep have lost several kilos of weight during this drought season.

The fodder at home of hay stack is often enough only for  three to four months as farmers depend on rain and for the ground to yield green vegetations for the cattle. Now that will not happen as rain fall was less by 40 percent in many parts.

Talking to people whom we met, shepherding their flock, mentioned to us about the long walk of two kilometers to provide drinking water for the sheep; children having to depend on mid day meal at school as it is difficult  for families to provide sumptuous food at home due to loss of income. One family earns only 120 rupees a day  by selling milk as against 300 or so normally. It is an warning to the difficult days ahead. They feared that even this will drop. 

Let me suggest 'neighborhood food banks', where we supply food grains to those who are struggling. Let each family keep away one handful of rice grain every time they put rice grain to cook. Let these be gathered from each household by volunteers and be stored in a common place for distribution once a week. Let widows,  people who live in the street, people who are chronically ill, migrant population form villages, unemployed people, families with many children,  receive supply from the grain bank. These are the very people who may not have a ration card to access food grains from the ration shops.

M.C.Mathew(text and photos)