Solving food challenges with more research: 

Solving food challenges with more research: 

Context

• The article discusses the importance of scientific research for food production and the need for empowerment of women in agriculture.

Brief overview

• The capacity to produce enough quality food is falling behind human numbers.
• Food production in the region must keep pace, even as environment sustainability and economic development are ensured.
• The answer to these challenges lies in research for sustainable development.
• As the second goal of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals says: “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture.”

Why is investing in scientific research for food production important?

• India’s fivefold increase in grain production over the past 50 years is largely the result of strong scientific research that has focused on high-yielding crop varieties, better agronomic practices, and pro-farmer policies.
• However, India continues to face challenges such as food insecurity and malnutrition, particularly in rural areas.
• Providing world’s growing urban population with safe and healthy food requires both a rural and a peri-urban agricultural movement – a huge challenge, but also an opportunity for ingenuity.
• Integrating agricultural production, nutrition, and health is emerging as a key focal point throughout Asia, with policymakers shifting their attention to the role of biodiversity and the power of local farming systems to improve nutritional status.
• There is a potential in targeting underused crops such as millets, pulses, and vegetables as a sustainable means of increasing agricultural production and improving nutrition and health in high-need areas.
• The Food Security Act of 2013 was welcome, as was the inclusion of millets in the Public Distribution System as millets are superior to common grains in many ways and are also climate-resilient.
• Bio-fortification is also important in overcoming hidden hunger caused by micronutrient deficiencies such as iron, iodine, zinc, vitamin A, and vitamin B12.

Is empowerment of women in agriculture important?

• Studies show that women make up nearly half of agricultural laborers, yet they carry out approximately 70% of all farm work.
• Women are among the most disadvantaged because they are typically employed as marginal workers, occupying low-skilled jobs such as sowing and weeding.
• Research shows that empowering women is one of the best ways to improve nutrition.
• Research needs to continue focussing on the needs of women farmers to ensure that they 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.
• It is crucial to continue to identify issues and seek evidence-based solutions through research.

Way forward

• Building on the momentum of recent efforts by the government to improve understanding of India’s nutritional situation, there is considerable potential in building partnerships to extend reach of research for development and to improve the connections between agricultural and nutritional research with extension services and policy.
• Taking a multi-sectoral approach that links agricultural and nutritional outcomes will help India sustainably grow, feed its people, and maintain the agricultural sector over the coming decades.
• India’s research community is poised to be a leader in meeting new food challenges by increasing food quantity and quality to improve food security and nutrition.
• The world needs to tap into India’s research excellence to experiment, innovate, share knowledge, and scale up effective solutions.