Raj Patel
is a research professor in the Lyndon B Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, Austin and a senior research associate at the Unit for the Humanities at the university currently known as Rhodes University, South Africa.
In an email interview, the academic, author and film-maker says consumption inequalities get worse during pandemics.
What will be the pandemic’s impact on food consumption in terms of quantity and quality?The main drivers for changes in the food system right now are rising poverty and rising prices. Layer that on top of existing inequalities, and we’ve a perfect opportunity for consumption inequalities to get worse. With crops being diverted to biofuel in some parts of the world, and other crops being used to feed animals rather than people, food is being diverted from plates of the world’s poorest people. Low income countries that depend on food imports are particularly vulnerable.
How will children, in particular, be affected ?Children are the most vulnerable among those groups. Previous experience with pandemics suggests that children in poorest households will face hunger because of food hoarding by the wealthy, as well as being exposed to higher levels of domestic violence.
What are the lessons for such medical crises in the future ?It didn’t take any great skill to see the pandemic coming. Human encroachment into forests and other zones is causing different species to live in more constrained ranges, which makes it easier for them to be in close proximity. This, in turn, creates conditions for diseases to jump species. Investment in a public healthcare system accessible to all, and leadership ready to follow science rather than the demands of the economy are critical. . India will have to undo years of systematic under-investment in healthcare if it is to survive future pandemics.
How can we prepare a food bank for contingencies?In the 8-5 centuries BCE, the Chinese Book of Rites offered this analysis: “A country without (food grain) stocks for nine years of requirements has insufficient reserves; with less than six years reserves the situation becomes tense; and with less than three years of stocks, the government will not survive”. It’s entirely possible to prepare grain reserves for contingencies. The choice is a political one.
What are major policy changes needed to pre-empt pandemics of hunger?There was already a pandemic of hunger before Covid, and India was at its epicentre. The policies that militate against the poor, from Aadhaar cards to demonetisation, are precisely the opposite of a social safety net and investment in rural India’s public welfare. Absent the kinds of policies that can improve the lives of the poorest, India will continue to suffer its poorest to carry the greatest burden, periods of pandemic emergency, and in the periods before and after.
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