What’s the article about?
The article talks about the food systems in India and the need for transitions for better food security.
Syllabus: GSIII, Agriculture
UN Food Systems Summit:
It called for action by governments in five areas:
- Nourish all people
- Boost nature-based solutions
- Advance equitable livelihoods,decent work and empowered communities;
- Build resilience to vulnerabilities, shocks and stresses
- Accelerate the means of implementation.
Challenges with current food system:
- Ground water exploitation, due to following of practices like flood farming etc.
- Cereal centric agriculture and less weight-age to other crops like pulses.
- Soil has lost its fertility due to unscientific application of fertilizers.
- Technology fatigue less adaptation to new technologies resulting in low productivity and yield.
- India has about a quarter of the world’s food insecure people, although self-sufficient in food grain production.
- Nutrition indicators have marginally improved over the years. As per the recently released fifth National Family Health Survey (2019-2021)
- Macro- and micronutrient malnutrition is widespread
- Nearly 18% of women and 16% of men unable to access enough food to meet basic nutritional needs
- Over 32% of children below five years old are still underweight phase 2 compendium.
- India is ranked 101 out of 116 countries in the Global Hunger Index, 2021.
- Declining land productivity, land degradation and loss of ecological services with change in land use.
Green Revolution success story:
- It is not only through the development of improved high-yielding varieties of rice and wheat, but also through policy measures and the development of institutional structure.
- It included a vast agricultural research and technology transfer system at the national, state and local levels.
- The Training & Visit (T&V) system, it established a cadre of agriculture extension specialists at the local level. That helped in transition.
Measures needed:
- Lab to farm initiatives in order to increase the productivity and connect with technology
- Pushing and promoting the evergreen revolution in order to pave the way towards sustainable agriculture.
- An agro-climatic approach to agricultural development is important for sustainability and better nutrition.
- Science and policy measures should go hand in hand like in Green Revolution.
- Meticulous review of agro-climatic zones could make smallholders farming a profitable business.
- Crop diversification and enhanced crop productivity based on soil type, climate .
- Prioritize research and investments in strengthening and shortening food supply chains, reinforcing regional food systems, food processing, agricultural resilience.
- Improve farmers’ competitiveness, by providing training and research support.
- Encourage a resource-efficient and circular economy for production, processing and storage techniques of food products.
- Agri-preneurs and agri micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in their production value chain are central to the transition.
