“Food Security” versus Cash Transfers: Comparative Analysis of Social Security Approaches in India and Brazil

Abstract

Two of the most discussed concepts in the world of social policy within the 21st century have been those of food security, and related terms such as “food sovereignty”. With increasing demand for food, both in amount and variety, in rapidly developing economies (most notably Brazil, India and China), along with shifts in the location of global agricultural consumption and production (for example, the diversion of some food grains into ethanol fuel production), national and sub-national governments have come under increasing pressure to develop explicit strategies for food security. These concerns are also increasingly supplemented by regional and global crisis around natural resources such as water and fertile lands, exacerbated by climate change.