1 INTER-RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN FOOD POLICY AND ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY IN CONTEMPORARY POLICY PRACTICES IN INDIA. HOW THE POTENTIALLY CONTRADICTORY ASPECTS MAY BE OVERCOME?

Linking environment and food production During the last twenty-five years, farmers in developing countries have risen to an enormous global challenge. In stark contrast to the Malthusian hypothesis that the world will run out of agricultural land due to geometrically burgeoning population, the world currently produces huge surpluses of food and each one of us has on an average some 7 percent more food than people a generation ago at the same age. (FAO, 1998) The increase in food production has however not come without environmental costs. The pressure on land and fresh water resources is increasing and the intensive use of farm inputs to produce more from same amount of land area is causing negative externalities at local and global levels. Ironically, food policies in developing countries in Central and South Asia, continue to be focused solely on increasing food production even in face of findings that political action will be needed to ensure that the poor have the means to buy food. (Sen, 1989) Environmental problems, on the other hand, are increasingly proving to be a limiting factor for enhancing farm productivity, and ensuring provision of safe and healthy food. Local environmental problems such as contaminated or depleting groundwater, air-pollution, waste discharge; and global problems like desertification, and global warming are putting food production at risk. Developin