Food and nutritional security in north east India- Some contemporary issues

North Eastern Region comprises eight States of Indian Territory consisting of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura which have been gifted by the nature with tremendous biodiversity and widely varying agro-climatic condition forming 8% of the total land area and about 4% of total population of the country. More than 70 percent of total geographical area of NER is covered by hills and about 3 million hectare is estimated to be under soil erosion hazard as a result of practice of jhum cultivation. The region, by and large, is characterised by fragility, marginality, inaccessibility, culturally heterogeneity, ethnicity and rich biodiversity (ICAR, Vision, 2025). Rice is the major crop of the region accounting for about 89% of the area and 92% of the total food grains production and the region is deficient in food grains and the gap between demand and supply is widening. The production system is characterised by low cropping intensity, subsistence level and mono cropping. Land use pattern is relatively faulty for which annual loss of top soil is much higher and lack of water harvesting measures, only 0.88mhm out of 42.5mhm water is used. As a result, the stamp of backwardness has been attached to this region suffering food and nutritional security, while the country moves ahead from its target of production to food surplus in different phases of the post independence era. From the above background, this paper analysis the perspective of food security and examines the food policies adopted by the states of north east India for addressing the challenges faced by agriculture sector in order to ensure food security in the region.