THE CONTEXT: Ensuring food security and addressing hunger are critical global challenges. World Food Day 2024 highlights the theme of “Right to food for a better life and a better future,” emphasizing the necessity of building equitable and sustainable agrifood systems.
THE ISSUES:
- Food Insecurity and Undernourishment: As of 2023, 757 million people were undernourished globally, with Asia having the largest share, at 384.5 million. In India, despite being self-sufficient in food production, significant portions of the population still face food insecurity and malnutrition.
- Nutritional Deficiencies: An Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) study found that high-yielding varieties of rice and wheat have reduced micronutrient densities, with zinc levels dropping by 33% in rice and 30% in wheat and iron levels decreasing by 27% in rice and 19% in wheat. Due to poor nutrition, a third of Indian children under five are stunted, and two-thirds are anemic.
- Economic Access to Food: The cost of a healthy diet has increased globally, making it unaffordable for many low-income populations. In South Asia, a reference diet might cost 60% of the mean daily per capita household income. In rural India, 63.3% of the population could not afford a required diet even if they spent all their income on food.
- Yield-focused Agriculture: The emphasis on yield has led to loss of biodiversity and reduced resilience in agriculture. For instance, India has lost about 104,000 rice varieties since the Green Revolution. High-yielding crops have replaced more nutritious and resilient varieties like millet.
- Consumption Patterns: Even among the richest 5% of households, there is low consumption of protein-rich foods, indicating that factors beyond affordability, such as awareness and accessibility, affect dietary choices. Indian diets generally lack balance and do not meet the nutritional recommendations of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) or the EAT-Lancet reference diet.
THE WAY FORWARD:
- Enhance Nutritional Security: Shift focuses from yield to nutritional output per hectare per year to ensure diverse and nutritious food production. Encourage the cultivation of diverse crops, including traditional varieties like millets, to improve dietary diversity and resilience. Integrate nutrition education into school curricula to instill healthy eating habits from a young age.
- Improve Economic Access: Implement policies to regulate food prices and reduce the share of food expenditure in total household expenses to make healthy diets more affordable. Strengthen social safety nets and market interventions to stabilize prices and support vulnerable populations.
- Promote Sustainable Practices: Encourage sustainable agricultural practices such as water conservation and soil health restoration to build resilience against climate change. Develop indicators that measure soil biological activity, water-use efficiency, and farm biodiversity to guide agricultural policy.
- Address Food Waste: Establish food banks and systems for proper food collection and distribution to reduce waste and ensure no one goes hungry. Save Food Campaign by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) promotes responsible consumption.
- Diversification of Agriculture: Incentivize farmers to adopt intercropping and crop rotation practices that enhance soil health and biodiversity. Develop policies that support the cultivation of traditional and indigenous crop varieties.
- Beyond Yield: Adopt indicators that measure nutritional output per hectare, soil health, water-use efficiency, and biodiversity to ensure sustainable and nutritious food production.
THE CONCLUSION:
Achieving food security and eliminating hunger necessitates collective efforts to transform agricultural practices, enhance nutritional quality, and ensure equitable access to food resources. By prioritizing these goals, India can work towards a future where everyone has a healthy diet and the opportunity for a prosperous life, contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals of ending hunger by 2030.
UPSC PAST YEAR QUESTIONS:
Q.1 What are the salient features of the National Food Security Act of 2013? How has the Food Security Bill helped eliminate hunger and malnutrition in India? 2021
Q.2 Explain the role of millets for ensuring health and nutritional security in India. 2024
MAINS PRACTICE QUESTION:
Q.1 Analyze the relationship between food affordability and nutritional security in India. What strategies can make healthy diets more accessible to low-income populations?
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