AN OPPORTUNITY TO RECAST INDIA’S FOOD SYSTEM

Why in the News?

The World Food Day was celebrated on October 16.

India’s food system:

1. India feeds the largest population in the world. 
2. The primary goal of a food system is to ensure nutrition security for all.
3. To achieve the primary goal, the producers producing the food should make reasonable economic returns that are resilient over time.
4. Such resilience is dependent on the resilience of our natural ecosystem which serves as largest inputs to agriculture — soil, water and climatic conditions.
5. 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:

1. India faces a double burden of malnutrition with a sizable proportion of Indians exhibiting nutrient deficiencies. 
2. The National Family Health Survey (NFHS), 2019-21 has revealed that:
   1. 35% of children are stunted
   2. 57% of women use modern contraceptive methods
   3. 25% of men are anaemic
3. Due to imbalanced diets and sedentary lifestyles, obesity has been witnessed in
   1. 24% of adult women
   2. 23% of adult men
4. On the production side, farm incomes are insufficient to meet the ends of marginal and small farmers. 
   1. Transforming Rural India Foundation’s report: >68% of marginal farmers supplement their incomes with non-farm activities.
   2. There are lack of skills or opportunities for income diversification.
5. India’s food production is becoming highly vulnerable due to depleting natural resources and changing climate.
   1. 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. 
   2. Groundwater, the largest source of irrigation, is rapidly declining. 
   3. 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.

1. Consumers:

   1. Consumer demand needs should be shifted towards healthy and sustainable diets that is healthier for people and the planet.
   2. 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.
   3. Civil society and the health community can partner with social media influencers for transforming healthier and sustainable consumption for millions.
   4. 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. 
   5. 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).

2. Producers:

   1. Farmers’ transition towards remunerative and regenerative agricultural practices has to be supported to ensure resilient incomes.
   2. The overall funding for sustainable agriculture is less than 1% of the agricultural budget, which has to be improved.
   3. Initiatives in various agro-ecological practices such as agroforestry, conservation agriculture, precision farming, etc., have to be adopted.
   4. 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.
   5. Agricultural research and extension services should also focus on sustainable agricultural practices.

3. Middlemen:

   1. 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.
   2. Middlemen, such as corporations supplying raw and processed food to consumers have to:
      1. prioritise direct procurement from farmers
      2. incentivise procurement of sustainably harvested produce
      3. Implement well-established approaches such as fair trade
      4. 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.