Skip to main content

Agricultural GHG emission and calorie intake nexus among different socioeconomic households of rural eastern India

Environment, Development and Sustainability volume 23, pages 11563–11582 (2021)Cite this article

Abstract

A study was conducted to examine the interrelationships among socioeconomic factors, household consumption patterns, calorie intake and greenhouse gas emissions factors in rural eastern India based on household survey data. Findings indicated that higher monthly per capita incomes (12.1–80.1$) were associated with greater average calorie intakes (2021–2525 kcal d−1). As estimated by the FEEDME model, in total 17.2% of the population was calorie malnourished with a regional disparity of 29.4–18.2% malnourishment. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were calculated only on the basis of crop and livestock production and consumption. Rice accounted for the highest share of total GHG emissions, on average 82.6% on a production basis, which varied from 58.1% to 94.9% in regional basis. Rice contributed the greatest share (~ 65% and 66.2%) in terms of both calories and GHG emissions (CO2 eq y−1), respectively, on a consumption basis. We conclude that extensive rice farming and increasing animal product consumption are dominant factors in the higher carbon footprint in this region and are likely to further increase with increase in per capita income. This study provides useful information to help for better crop planning and for fine-tuning food access policy, to reduce carbon footprint and calorie malnutrition.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price includes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

References

  • Abdulai, A., & Aubert, D. (2004). Nonparametric and parametric analysis of calorie consumption in Tanzania. Food Policy, 29, 113–129.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alkerwi, A., Vernier, C., Sauvageot, N., Crichton, G. E., & Elias, M. F. (2015). Demographic and socioeconomic disparity in nutrition: Application of a novel correlated component regression approach. British Medical Journal Open, 5, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2014-006814.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Babatunde, R. O., Adejobi, A. O., & Fakayode, S. B. (2010). Income and calorie intake among farming households in rural Nigeria: Results of parametric and nonparametric analysis. Journal of Agricultural Science, 2, 135–146.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barrett, C. B. (2010). Measuring food insecurity. Science, 327(5967), 825–828.

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bellarby, J., Tirado, R., Leip, A., Weiss, F., Lesschen, J. P., & Smith, P. (2013). Livestock greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation potential in Europe. Global Change Biology, 19, 3–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Census of India (2011). Household Schedule-Side A" (PDF). Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, Ministry of Home Affairs Government of India, http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011-common/census_2011.html

  • Cetin, M., Adiguzel, F., Kaya, O., & Sahap, A. (2018). Mapping of bioclimatic comfort for potential planning using GIS in Aydin. Environment Development and Sustainability, 20(1), 361–375. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-016-9885-5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dangour, A., Pradhan, A., Islam, Md. S. (2017). Sustainable Farming Systems for Food and Nutrition Security. FAO: Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition • FSN Forum. http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/activities/discussions/sustainable-farming-systems

  • Das, S. (2016). Malnutrition in Odisha. International Journal Management Social Science Research, 5, 20–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dawson, T. P., Perryman, A. H., & Osborne, T. M. (2016). Modelling impacts of climate change on global food security. Climatic Change, 134, 429–440.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Department of Agriculture. (2016). Odisha agriculture statistics 2015–16, directorate of agriculture & food production. Bhubaneswar, Odisha: Govt. of Odisha.

    Google Scholar 

  • Department of Fisheries and Animal Resources Development (2016). Annual activity report 2015–16. Department of Fisheries and Animal Resources Development, Govt. of Odisha, Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

  • Directorate of Economics & Statistics (DES) (2011–12). Govt. of Odisha, Level and pattern of consumer expenditure of Odisha. 68th Round NSS 2011–12. Assessed by http://www.desorissa.nic.in/pdf/nss-68-consumer-expenditure.pdf

  • FAO. (2004). FAO methodology for estimating undernourishment. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organisation.

    Google Scholar 

  • FAO ( 2008). The state of food insecurity in the world, Rome.

  • FAO/WHO/UNU (2004). Human Energy Requirements. Report of a Joint FAO/WHO/UNU Expert Consultation. Rome, FAO, FAO Food and Nutrition Tech. Report Ser. 1

  • Gopalan, C., Rama Sastri, B. V., & Balasubramanian, S. C. (1989). Nutritive value of Indian foods. Indian Council of Medical Research, Hyderabad, India: National Institute of Nutrition.

    Google Scholar 

  • Government of Odisha. (2005). Human development report 2004. New Delhi: Planning Commission.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hillier, J., Walter, C., Malin, D., Garcia-Suarez, T., Mila-i-Canals, L., & Smith, P. (2011). A farm-focused calculator for emissions from crop and livestock production. Environment Modelling Software, 26(9), 1070–1078.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Human Development Report (2004). Government of Odisha (p. 325).

  • Ittyerah, A. C. (2013). Food security in India: issues and suggestions for effectiveness. Theme paper for the 57th Members’ Annual Conference, Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi, India. http://www.iipa.org.in/upload/Food%20Security%20Theme%20Paper-2013.pdf (assessed on November 2017)

  • James, W. P. T., & Schofield, E. C. (1990). Human energy requirements. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kim, B., & Neff, R. (2009). Measurement and communication of greenhouse gas emissions from U.S. food consumption via carbon calculators. Ecological Economics, 69(1), 186–196.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kumbhar, R. K. (2013). Structural legacy, inefficacy and weakening social securities: A study of NREGS in a panchayat in Odisha. In K. P. Kannan & Jan Breman (Eds.), the long road to social security: Assessing the implementation of national social security initiatives for the working poor in India. India: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kumbhar, R. K. (2016). State of calories intake in Odisha and role of public policies. International Journal of Human Social Science Research, 2(6), 29–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu, S., Qin, Y., Zou, J., & Liu, Q. (2010). Effects of water regime during rice-growing season on annual direct N2O emission in a paddy rice–winter wheat rotation system in southeast China. Science of the Total Environment, 408(4), 906–913.

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ma, J., & Maystadt, J.-F. (2017). The impact of weather variations on maize yields and household income: Income diversification as adaptation in rural China. Global Environmental Change, 42, 93–106.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mangal, A., Kumar, V., Panesar, S., Talwar, R., Raut, D., & Singh, S. (2015). Updated BG Prasad socioeconomic classification, 2014: A commentary. Indian Journal of Public Health, 59(1), 42–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nayak, D., Saetnan, E., Cheng, K., Wang, W., Koslowski, F., Cheng, Y., et al. (2015). Management opportunities to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from Chinese agriculture. Agriculture Ecosystems Environment, 209, 108–124.

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Odisha Economic Survey (2014-15). Planning and Co-ordination Department, Government of Odisha (p. 540).

  • Odisha Economic survey (2015). Planning and convergence department, Govt. of Odisha, Bhubaneswar, 2014–15. http://www.odisha.gov.in/pc/Download/Economic_Survey_ 2014–15.pdf. (Assessed on November 2017)

  • Oldiges, C. (2012). Cereals consumption and per capita income in India. Economic and Political Weekly, 47(6), 63–71.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pathak, H., Jain, N., Bhatia, A., Patel, J., & Aggarwal, P. K. (2010). Carbon footprints of Indian food items. Agriculture Ecosystems Environment, 139(1–2), 66–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rath, R. (2006). Education of tribal children in Kandhamal district. Orissa Review, 62(10), 50–59.

    Google Scholar 

  • RIVM (1997). National Environmental Outlook 4, 1997-2020. Samson H. D., Tjeenk Willink bv., Alphen aan den Rijn, The Netherlands.

  • Schmidhuber, J., & Tubiello, F. N. (2007). Global food security under climate change. PNAS, 104(50), 19703–19708. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0701976104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singh, N., & Singh, N. (2016). Economic transformation of a developing economy: The experience of Punjab. India: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, P., Bustamante, M., Ahammad, H., Clark, H., Dong, H., Elsiddig, E. A., Haberl, H., Harper, R., House, J., Jafari, M., Masera, O., Mbow, C., et al. (2014). Agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU). In “Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of climate change. contribution of working group iii to the fifth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change” O. Edenhofer, et al. (Ed.) (pp. 811–922). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA.

  • Strauss, J., & Thomas, D. (1995). Human resources: Empirical modelling of household and family decisions. In J. Behrman & T. N. Srinivasan (Eds.), Handbook of development economics (3rd ed., pp. 1883–2023). Amsterdam: North-Holland.

    Google Scholar 

  • Subramanian, S., & Deaton, A. (1996). The demand for food and calories. Journal of Political Economy, 104(1), 133–162.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tuomisto, H. L., Scheelbeek, P. F., Chalabi, Z., Green, R., Smith, R. D., Haines, A., & Dangour, A. D. (2017). Effects of environmental change on agriculture, nutrition and health: A framework with a focus on fruits and vegetables. Wellcome Open Research, 2, 21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vermeulen, S. J., Campbell, B. M., & Ingram, J. S. I. (2012). Climate change and food systems. Annual Reviews in Environmental Resource, 37, 195–222.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vetter, S. H., Sapkota, T. B., Hillier, J., Stirling, C. M., Macdiarmid, J. I., Aleksandrowicz, L., et al. (2017). Greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural food production to supply Indian diets: Implications for climate change mitigation. Agriculture Ecosystems Environment, 237, 234–241.

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  • WHO (1995). Physical Status: the use and interpretation of anthropometry. WHO Technical Report Series 854. Geneva.

  • WHO (2004). Human Energy Requirements. Report of a Joint FAO/WHO/UNU Expert Consultation. Rome, FAO, FAO Food and Nutrition Tech. Rpt. Ser. 1.

  • WHO (2006). WHO Child Growth Standards: BMI for age tables. WHO. Geneva,. Available at http://www.who.int/childgrowth/standards/bmi_for_age/en/index.html

  • WHO (2007). WHO Growth reference 5–19 years: BMI for age tables. WHO, Geneva. Available at http://www.who.int/growthref/who2007_bmi_for_age/en/index.html

  • WHO/FAO/UNU (1985). Energy and Protein Requirements. Report of a joint FAO/WHO/UNU ad hoc Expert Consultation. Geneva, WHO, WHO Tech. Rpt. Ser 724.

  • Yan, X., Yagi, K., Akiyama, H., & Akimoto, H. (2005). Statistical analysis of the major variables controlling methane emission from rice fields. Global Change Biology, 11(7), 1131–1141.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

Financial assistances for the conduct of study was provided by Ministry of Earth Sciences, and Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Government of India, New Delhi.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. ICAR - National Rice Research Institute, Cuttack, 753006, Odisha, India

    Rahul Tripathi, B. Dhal, Md Shahid, S. K. Barik, A. D. Nayak, B. Mondal, S. D. Mohapatra, D. Chatterjee, N. N. Jambhulkar & A. K. Nayak

  2. ICAR - Central Sheep and Wool Research Institute, Avikanagar, 304501, Rajasthan, India

    B. Lal

  3. ICAR - National Research Centre on Camel, Bikaner, 334004, Rajasthan, India

    Priyanka Gautam

  4. Institute of Biological & Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, 23 St Machar Drive, Aberdeen, AB24 3UU, UK

    Nuala Fitton & Pete Smith

  5. Department of Geography, King’s College London, London, WC2R 2LS, UK

    T. P. Dawson

  6. Indian Institute of Soil Sciences, Nabibagh, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India

    A. K. Shukla

Authors
  1. Rahul Tripathi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. B. Dhal
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Md Shahid
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. S. K. Barik
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. A. D. Nayak
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. B. Mondal
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. S. D. Mohapatra
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. D. Chatterjee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. B. Lal
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Priyanka Gautam
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. N. N. Jambhulkar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  12. Nuala Fitton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  13. Pete Smith
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  14. T. P. Dawson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  15. A. K. Shukla
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  16. A. K. Nayak
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. K. Nayak.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Tripathi, R., Dhal, B., Shahid, M. et al. Agricultural GHG emission and calorie intake nexus among different socioeconomic households of rural eastern India. Environ Dev Sustain 23, 11563–11582 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-020-01126-w

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-020-01126-w

Keywords

  • Calorie malnutrition
  • FEEDME
  • Greenhouse gas
  • Monthly per capita income
  • Rice