Population | India must be quick to tackle challenges of food security, land use

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India, a country with just 2.4 percent of the world’s total land area, is the largest producer of milk and pulses, and the second largest producer of rice and wheat, as per the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). This was a result of high-yielding varieties, support and subsidies to farmers, enhanced fertilizer and pesticide use, and extensive expansion of the irrigation network during the Green Revolution. While this ramped up food production, today, nearly half of all agricultural lands have poor soil health; and food and nutrition security for diverse socio-economic groups remains a challenge.

India’s population will reach 1.5 billion by 2030 as per the UN report on World Population Prospects 2022. Already, there is rampant malnutrition, especially among women and children. The National Family Health Survey 2019-21 reports 36percent of children under the age of five as stunted, 19percent as wasted, and 32percent as underweight. More than 25percent of the country’s population is categorized as multidimensionally poor by NITI Aayog.

These issues will only deepen further, and numbers will be more daunting as the population rises. Current situation demands new-age solutions, which can address multiple issues of climate change, competing land uses, biodiversity loss, and sustainability. Further pressurizing our land and water systems with resource-intensive agricultural practices may threaten food productivity as per the FAO, compromising the food security of the burgeoning population.

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Not only population, but several other factors also affect the food system. This includes climate risks and their impact. As per the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), climate and non-climate stressors together will affect the availability, access, utilization, and stability of food systems. The IPCC 2022 report predicts up to 30percent decline in rice yields and 70percent for maize, if global temperatures continue to rise from 1 to 4  degrees Celsius. Climate change can push more than 90.6 million people towards extreme hunger by 2030.

Further, the situation is complicated by water availability and competition for land for other activities, including rapid urbanization. This is especially relevant because agriculture employs more than 40percent of country’s total workforce, predominantly women. Around 85percent farmers are small, and marginalized, with women’s contributions mostly unrecognized as only 13percent have titles to the land they till.

With multitude of environmental and socio-economic issues and nearly 18percent of the world’s population, India has its hands full with commitments towards its population. Effective and sustainable use of land systems are required to achieve overriding developmental priorities like eradicating poverty and improving income opportunities; environmental priorities like halting land degradation and achieving carbon neutrality by 2070; and creating an additional carbon sink of 2.5-3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2030.

Therefore, there is need for transformative action with a focus on transitioning towards sustainable food and land use systems in India, which would require strengthening governance around some key areas, like sustainable production and consumption, reducing food loss and waste across supply chains, and spearheading ecosystem restoration. This requires an integrated approach focusing on food-water-land as an interconnected system while accounting for protection and conservation and meeting climate commitments.

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Such an approach must look at the interdependencies between food systems, land use patterns, water management, and diverse socio-economic contexts. There is a need to shift perverse agricultural incentives that are damaging our ecosystem toward restorative farm practices to boost crop yields, rural incomes and livelihoods, and food and nutritional security in the long run. Sustainable and regenerative agriculture is one such integrated practice that could improve soil health and agro-biodiversity while providing nutritious food.

Further, adopting interventions such as agroforestry with native species, where ecologically and socially appropriate, can improve soil health, sequester carbon, enhance biodiversity, improve access to nutrition and has the potential to enhance incomes and livelihoods for farmers. The potential for such restoration is over 50 million hectares of land across India. Another approach is to focus on strategies to reduce food loss and waste. For instance, post-harvest losses in India amounted to Rs 926.51 billion in 2014 alone, as per ICAR-CIPHET study. This is not only the loss of food but a wasted opportunity to increase food availability for a growing population. This can also support conserving and protecting natural resources, reducing climate change, and generating new sources of livelihood.

In a nutshell, to achieve land-based developmental and environmental targets, strengthening an enabling policy and market ecosystem for implementation on the ground is crucial. Focusing on systems transformation could be a way forward for India to achieve its climate commitments as well as Sustainable Development Goals. However, we must seize this opportunity in time to ensure a win-win situation for people, climate, and the economy.

(This is the third and last in a series of articles on India’s growing population)

Himangana Gupta is Manager, Shweta Prajapati anchors communications, and Ruchika Singh is Director, at WRI India’s Sustainable Landscapes and Restoration programme. Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication.