Changing Food Consumption Pattern in Rural India : Implication on Food and Nutrition Security

It has been observed that there is a marked decline in the consumption of all the cereal items over the period 1987-88 through 2001-02 in almost all the States and in both rural as well as urban areas with the reduction being particularly sharp in the case of the smaller cereal items, e.g., barley, maize and cereal substitutes such as tapioca. There has been a switch in preferences towards non-cereal items, such as, meat/fish/eggs and fruits/vegetables. Whatever the underlying factors causing these changes, these have led to significant decline in calorie consumption due to the switch-over from calorie intensive cereal items to non-cereals which are more expensive sources of calories