Objectives: The study aims to understand the rice availability in Meghalaya through its own production and the Government intervention for sustaining rice availability in the state. The growth in area and production of rice over the years in Meghalaya during 2011- 12 to 2016-17 and 2008-09 to 2016-17, respectively, envisage the gap and drawn out the positive intervention by the Government towards building that gap.
Methods/Findings: The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) was computed and the deficit in rice over the years has been calculated based on the the average requirement intake of rice (585 g/day/person) as per the recommendations of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). Then, to understand the gap in availability, the overall state’s production has been subtracted from the overall demand during the respective years. The annual growth rate in area and production of rice was found to be significantly increased over the years during 2011-12 to 2016-17 and 2008-09 to 2016-17 by 0.39 % and 7.22 %, respectively. It was found that, the state has a deficit in rice by 431.17 thousand tonnes which was 62.79 % from its own production. The PDS system through National food security act (NFSA), 2013 has bridge for about 44.71 % in terms of availability of rice after which also, a margin or more of 17.80 % rice is still deficit in the state.
Application: Consequently, the central government incentives and initiatives through NFSA, 2013 has been the greatest attainment for rice availability which is the staple food for the maximum population of people in the state. Hence, it will be of great augmentation if the needy benefitted through these types of Government schemes.