Despite fivefold increase in grain production over the past 50 years, India continues to face food insecurity and malnutrition - Analyse.
Refer - The Hindu
IAS Parliament 7 years
KEY POINTS
· High yielding crop varieties
· Better agronomic practices
· Pro-farmer policies help India to attain a huge grain production.
But, even with these reforms, India is unable to address food insecurity and malnutrition.
Challenges
· Lack in integration of agricultural production, nutrition, and health
· Hidden hunger caused by micronutrient deficiency
· Lack of Crop diversification
· Lack of research in identifying the real hurdles.
Solutions
· Bio-fortification – help to overcome hidden hunger caused by micronutrient deficiencies such as iron, iodine, zinc, vitamin A, and vitamin B12.
· Policy shifts -Policymakers must shift their attention to the role of biodiversity and the power of local farming systems to improve nutritional status.
· Research connections - connections between agricultural and nutritional research with extension services and policy needs to be improved.
· Use of traditional varieties - Underused traditional crops such as millets, pulses will increase agricultural production and improve nutrition and health in high-need areas.
· Home gardens - these setups canprovide households with up to more than double the amount of vegetables they were buying in local markets.
· PDS - Inclusion of millets in the Public Distribution System will provide good nutrition, as millets are superior to common grains in many ways and are also climate-resilient.
· Empowering women- Women farmers are the direct recipients of development impacts, such as access to markets and income, to improve theirs and their children’s access to adequate and diversified diets.
