The impact of food security disruption due to the Covid-19 pandemic on tribal people in India

Tribal communities rely on agriculture and semiskilled work for sustenance, both of which were majorly affected due to lockdowns during the Covid-19 pandemic, resulting in food crises. In this study we assess the availability of foods stuff at the household level and community experiences about satiety and hunger during lockdown. A rapid assessment on food security was conducted through a structured questionnaire from 12th May 2020 to 10th June 2020. A total of 211 households from rural tribal communities of the Udaipur and Dungarpur districts of southern Rajasthan participated in the study. Interviews were conducted by telephone due to lockdown restrictions. Availability of cereals was reported by 97% of households (hh), 65% hh reported the presence of one or more pulses, and 78% hh reported vegetables mostly from their backyard kitchen garden. The median amount of cereal available was 240 kg, which could last for 5 months. Other nonperishable items like pulses, oil, clarified butter, and sugar were sparse, in quantities that would not last longer than a week. In the survey, 64% of respondents said that sometimes food was not sufficient to satisfy their satiety, out of them 97% reported insufficient money to buy food. The study highlights widespread food insecurity among tribal communities in southern Rajasthan, and the scenario is likely to be similar in other tribal migration-dependent areas of the country. Urgent measures are required to promote food security, including strengthening the public distribution system, expanding the network of fair price shops, bringing the focus back on agriculture, and placing an extra focus on vulnerable groups.