AN OPPORTUNITY TO RECAST INDIA’S FOOD SYSTEM
20 Oct 2023 9 mins Download PDF
Why in the News?
The World Food Day was celebrated on October 16.
India’s food system:
- India feeds the largest population in the world.
- The primary goal of a food system is to ensure nutrition security for all.
- To achieve the primary goal, the producers producing the food should make reasonable economic returns that are resilient over time.
- Such resilience is dependent on the resilience of our natural ecosystem which serves as largest inputs to agriculture — soil, water and climatic conditions.
- Therefore, it can be inferred that interconnectedness of nutrition security with livelihood and environmental security is a mandate for attaining a truly sustainable food system.
Nutrition, livelihoods, environment security:
- India faces a double burden of malnutrition with a sizable proportion of Indians exhibiting nutrient deficiencies.
- The National Family Health Survey (NFHS), 2019-21 has revealed that:
- 35% of children are stunted
- 57% of women use modern contraceptive methods
- 25% of men are anaemic
- Due to imbalanced diets and sedentary lifestyles, obesity has been witnessed in
- 24% of adult women
- 23% of adult men
- On the production side, farm incomes are insufficient to meet the ends of marginal and small farmers.
- Transforming Rural India Foundation’s report: >68% of marginal farmers supplement their incomes with non-farm activities.
- There are lack of skills or opportunities for income diversification.
- India’s food production is becoming highly vulnerable due to depleting natural resources and changing climate.
- The 2023 soil health survey shows that almost 50% of the cultivable land in India has become deficient in organic carbon, an essential indicator of soil health.
- Groundwater, the largest source of irrigation, is rapidly declining.
- In Punjab, > 75% of the groundwater assessment locations are over-exploited, threatening the resilience of farm incomes.
Adopt a three-sided approach:
A triad approach that engages all three sides of the food system: consumers, producers, and middlemen have to be adopted.
-
Consumers:
- Consumer demand needs should be shifted towards healthy and sustainable diets that is healthier for people and the planet.
- The private sector which drives the aspirational consumption patterns for major Indian population can adopt strategies akin to that used to mainstream imported oats or quinoa in India, for locally-grown millets.
- Civil society and the health community can partner with social media influencers for transforming healthier and sustainable consumption for millions.
- The public sector such as the Public Distribution System, mid-day meals, railways catering, urban canteens, and public and institutional procurement can improve at least 70% of India’s consumption pattern.
- Even religious institutions such as the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam which feeds 70,000 people daily can shape food choices (it has started procuring naturally-farmed produce).
-
Producers:
- Farmers’ transition towards remunerative and regenerative agricultural practices has to be supported to ensure resilient incomes.
- The overall funding for sustainable agriculture is less than 1% of the agricultural budget, which has to be improved.
- Initiatives in various agro-ecological practices such as agroforestry, conservation agriculture, precision farming, etc., have to be adopted.
- Agriculture support should shift from input subsidies to direct cash support to farmers per hectare of cultivation to ensure efficient use of inputs, and providing a level playing field for agroecological practices.
- Agricultural research and extension services should also focus on sustainable agricultural practices.
-
Middlemen:
- There has to be a shift in farm-to-fork value chains towards more sustainable and inclusive ones, by employing value addition of agricultural produce in rural areas.
- Middlemen, such as corporations supplying raw and processed food to consumers have to:
- prioritise direct procurement from farmers
- incentivise procurement of sustainably harvested produce
- Implement well-established approaches such as fair trade
- enable trading of produce between FPOs as done by few FPOs in Odisha, as all farmer families in a farmer producer organisation (FPO) are consumers of other farming goods.
Key Takeaways:
These strategies can help transform Indian agriculture into an ecologically resilient, economically viable and socially equitable system. |
Related Article

Join Guru मार्गदर्शन ( Mentorship )
( First 5 Minutes Free )

Discuss Current Issues on Guru Forum
