Role of Fisheries in poverty alleviation and food security

Abstract

In a developing country like India issue of food security raises problems of uncertain food production, its unequal distribution and lack of purchasing power due to unemployment and poverty. Food strategies must not only be directed towards ensuring food security for all but must also ensure consumption of adequate quantities of safe and good quality food. Employment or livelihood security forms an essential component of strategy for poverty alleviation and national food security. India has to meet the challenge of generating sufficient employment opportunity for ensuring that all people have the purchasing power to obtain their nutritional requirement. Fisheries, especially aquaculture have been an important source of food; essential dietary requirement; employment and revenue, despite fluctuations in supply and demand resulted by changing state of fisheries resources, climatic conditions and economic environment and will continue to remain so provided we exploit our resources judiciously and responsibly and maintain their availability for present and future generations. Thus fisheries can address different dimensions of food security such as sustainable supply, access to it, nutritional adequacy and improvement of purchasing power by employment generation. With increasing population and consequently the growing demand for food in general as well as for fish, the role of fisheries in contributing to national food security may be even more crucial. However, the limited nature of capture fisheries emphasizes the important role that aquaculture will have to play in the future abridging the gap between supply and demand.