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World agriculture towards 2030/2050: the 2012 revision - Fao

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PROOF COPY<br />

Where does this leave us on <strong>the</strong> projections? Economic growth in India is projected to<br />

continue at fairly sustained rates, at least over <strong>the</strong> medium term 36 . One scenario projects an<br />

exploding size of <strong>the</strong> South Asia’s middle class by <strong>2050</strong> – from under 1 million at present to<br />

some 660 million or 29 percent of <strong>the</strong> population in <strong>2050</strong>, and a drastic fall in poverty rates<br />

based on a <strong>the</strong> PPP$ 1.25/day poverty line from 40 percent to zero (van der Mensbrugghe et<br />

al., 2011: Tables 6.2, 6.3 – no India projections given). The key question is: will India, if and<br />

when it attains reduced poverty and a sizable middle class, behave like o<strong>the</strong>r countries, e.g.<br />

China, concerning food expenditure and change in dietary habits <strong>towards</strong> more livestock<br />

products, essentially meat since preference for milk is already evident in <strong>the</strong> historical data 37 ?<br />

One is tempted to say “much less than o<strong>the</strong>r countries”: <strong>the</strong> country has a strong vegetarian<br />

tradition given that around 40 percent of <strong>the</strong> population are vegetarians (Yadav and Kumar,<br />

2006), and consumption of beef and pork is against religious cultures of significant parts of<br />

<strong>the</strong> population. At <strong>the</strong> same time, poultry production and consumption seems, according to<br />

some reports, to be growing rapidly, though this is not evidenced in <strong>the</strong> official statistics 38 .<br />

Some national data indicate meat consumption per capita of 5.3 kg in 1999-2000 (Kumar et<br />

al., 2007), i.e. higher than <strong>the</strong> 3.5 kg of <strong>the</strong> FBS. Also, a recent report of ICAR (Indian<br />

Council of Agricultural Research, 2011:4) has a figure of meat consumption of 4.5 million<br />

tonnes in 2000, i.e. 4.3 kg per capita. Whatever <strong>the</strong> truth, <strong>the</strong> long-term projections cannot<br />

ignore <strong>the</strong> prospect that things may change and that per capita consumption of meat may<br />

eventually take off from <strong>the</strong> minuscule quantities reported in <strong>the</strong> FBS.<br />

In <strong>the</strong> light of uncertainties and <strong>the</strong> inconsequential nature of projection exercises<br />

applying elasticities over long periods, <strong>the</strong> following principles are used for generating a set<br />

of food demand projections for India to use in this global study:<br />

• We first generate a projection of calories in <strong>2050</strong>. This is 2825 kcal/person/day, up from<br />

2300 in 2005/07. This projected number is derived from <strong>the</strong> cross-country relationship<br />

for 62 developing countries with Household Consumption Expenditure (HHCE) data<br />

between kcal from <strong>the</strong> FBS and HHCE per capita in 2005$ PPP from <strong>the</strong> <strong>World</strong> Bank<br />

data. The relationship is graphed in Figure A.2.1.5. We <strong>the</strong>n project per capita HHCE in<br />

<strong>2050</strong>, from <strong>the</strong> 6 percent GDP growth rate 5.4 percent per capita from Foure et al.<br />

(2010), but reducing it to 4.4 percent for HHCE per capita in order to account for <strong>the</strong><br />

probable overstatement of <strong>the</strong> HHCE growth in <strong>the</strong> national accounts, as hypo<strong>the</strong>sized<br />

by Deaton and Dreze (2011). The projected per capita HHCE results as 9000 PPP$. The<br />

kcal corresponding to this level of HHCE is, according to <strong>the</strong> cross-country relationship,<br />

2825.<br />

36 India’s Eleventh 5-year Plan (2007-12) has a target of 9 percent annual growth rate of GDP (Mittal, 2008); a<br />

recently released set of GDP projections to <strong>2050</strong> from a French research centre have India growing at 6 percent<br />

p.a. from 2008-<strong>2050</strong> (Foure et al., 2010). We have already noted <strong>the</strong> apparent discrepancies between <strong>the</strong> growth<br />

rate of consumption expenditure from <strong>the</strong> National accounts data and that from <strong>the</strong> Indian national surveys. This<br />

is an aspect to keep in mind when we consider long-term food projections for India.<br />

37 The recent major UK government report (Foresight) lists among <strong>the</strong> uncertainties around future per capita<br />

consumption “whe<strong>the</strong>r regional differences in diet (particularly in India) persist into <strong>the</strong> future” (The<br />

Government Office for Science:54).<br />

38 “The current chicken consumption is under 3 kg per head a year and <strong>the</strong> poultry industry expects <strong>the</strong><br />

consumption to double in <strong>the</strong> next five years” (“Consumption of chicken set to double by 2014”, Economic<br />

Times, 8 June 2010). Also: “Rapid poultry sector growth is being driven by an expanding middle class and <strong>the</strong><br />

emergence of vertically integrated poultry producers” (Landes et al, 2004). The USDA PSD data base indicates<br />

poultry meat production grew from 1080 million tonnes in 2000 to 2550 million tonnes in 2009. The FAO<br />

official data are 455 and 727 million tonnes, respectively.<br />

58

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