Plowing a new channel for India’s food systems

In an effort to promote national and regional action to deliver the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through transforming food systems, the United Nations Food System Summit called for action by governments in five areas: : nourishment of all people; promoting nature based solutions; Advancing equitable livelihoods, good work and empowered communities; Build resilience to weaknesses, shocks and stresses; and expediting the means of implementation. Such a change in the Indian context would include increasing the interface between the areas of science, society and policy, with a focus on sustainability, resource efficiency and circularity.

blending science and policy

An active science-society-policy interface negated the prevailing negative climate of the 1960s when the inability to feed a growing population was expounded on in two notable books: population bomb by Paul Ehrlich, and Famine 1975! By brothers William and Paul Paddock. India’s Green Revolution in the 1960s, to enable food security and address widespread hunger and poverty, not only through science and technology and the development of advanced high-yielding varieties of rice and wheat, but also through policy measures and was also achieved through the development of the institutional structure. This included a massive agricultural research and technology transfer system at the national, regional, state and local levels. The Training and Travel (T&V) system introduced in the 1970s with the assistance of the World Bank was the key to the science-society interface as it established a cadre of agricultural extension specialists at the local level.

Although India is now largely self-sufficient in food production, it has about a quarter of the world’s food insecure people, which is an indicator of the amount of food needed for all income groups to reach the calorie target (in 2,400 kcal), rural and 2,100 kcal in an urban set-up). There has been a slight improvement in nutrition indicators over the years. However, macro- and micronutrient malnutrition is widespread, with 18.7% of women and 16.2% of men unable to access enough food to meet basic nutritional needs, and under the age of five, according to the recently released Fifth National Family More than 32% of U.S. children are still underweight. Health Survey (2019-2021) Phase 2 Collection.

India is ranked 101 out of 116 countries in the Global Hunger Index, 2021. Not surprisingly, widespread concerns about poverty, malnutrition and the need for a second Green Revolution are being built together. The country faces the twin challenge of achieving nutritional security as well as addressing declining land productivity, land degradation and loss of ecological services with changes in land use.

The need for ‘transition’

The tacit approach of ‘agriculture’ meeting the needs of ‘food security’ should give way to ‘food systems’ for ‘sustainability’ and ‘improved nutrition’ and the activities involved in food production, gathering, processing, distribution and consumption and The category of actors should be adopted. embedded in their socio-economic and material context.

An important conclusion from the Green Revolution-era is that for science to be relevant to social outcomes, it must be planned and implemented within the theory of change. The behavioral change required in the adoption of improved seeds and practices brought about by the T&V system in the 1960s enabled science to drive the process of change. In the context of acute economic, environmental and climate challenges and crises, the need of the hour is a sound theory of transition that incorporates spatial, social and scientific dimensions, policy incentives to achieve a sustainable, resilient and food secure supported by the system. Agriculture. Following the success of the Green Revolution, Ehrlich’s subtle prophecy, that humanity has postponed its attempt with disaster, may come true. The theory of change should bring back the focus on sustainability, resource efficiency and circularity as central pillars towards transforming food systems.

increase stability

The agro-climatic approach to agricultural development is critical for sustainability and improved nutrition. The limitations and unintended consequences of the Green Revolution can be corrected by adopting the principles of sustainability, resource efficiency and circularity using the spatial diversity of agricultural production systems. These include loss of indigenous land, depletion of soil nutrients, groundwater stress, excessive use of agrochemicals and food and its residual presence in the environment, income gap between large, marginal and small farmers, and differences between irrigated and rainfed areas. Have ditched.

Data compiled in the agro-climatic zones report of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and India’s erstwhile Planning Commission have huge potential for accuracy for crop diversification and increased crop productivity based on soil type, climate (temperature and rainfall), and captive water. reveals to. Resources. The livelihood of more than half of India’s working population is linked to agriculture and allied activities; This sector has a direct impact on the health and nutritional status of the dependent communities. Thus, the focus should be on encouraging farmers to improve the competitiveness of farmers, support business growth in the rural economy and improve the environment. It is recognized that a careful review of agro-climatic zones can make smallholder farming a profitable business, leading to increased agricultural efficiency and socio-economic development as well as sustainability.

taking into account the policy

Strengthening and shortening food supply chains, strengthening regional food systems, food processing, agricultural resilience and sustainability in a climate-changing world will need to prioritize research and investment along these lines. The natural resource base – soil and water stress conditions – in different agro-climatic zones will help in understanding the necessary micro as well as meso-level interventions with respect to technologies, extension activities and policies. Lastly, infrastructure and institutions that support producers, agri-entrepreneurs and agricultural micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in their production value chain are central to the transition.

This should be aligned with national and state policy priorities such as the Agriculture Ministry’s National Policy Guidelines 2012 to promote Farmer Producer Organizations and the 2019 National Resource Efficiency Policy of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. It will encourage a resource efficient and circular economy for food products production, processing and storage techniques through renewable energy solutions, supply chain and reduction in inputs (materials, water and energy). It will also ensure efficient utilization of by-products, creating value while using less inputs and generating less waste for long-term and large-scale impact.

Evidence will need to be generated not only on the effects of food systems on economic, environmental and social consequences and their co-benefits and trade-offs, but also on how to understand and operate the levers of change. Clearly, science, society and policy can be viewed much more than an effective interface with a range of actors and institutions in the food value-chain and a multidisciplinary and holistic approach, with greater emphasis on policy design, management and behavior change. have to achieve something.

Manish Anand is Senior Fellow, and S Vijay Kumar is Distinguished Fellow and Lead, Food and Land Use Coalition (India) at The Energy and Resources Institute, New Delhi.