Agriculture

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.