The world population is estimated to reach nine billion by 2050. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates that global food production needs to increase 70 per cent by 2050 compared to average 2005-07 levels to feed the rising global population.

Clearly, a large part of the consumption will happen in India and China; which would require an additional 1.6 billion hectares of land to be brought into cultivation compared to the current 1.4 billion hectares being cultivated presently. This increase in cultivable land looks improbable.

In the wake of 2010, the historical surge in international commodity prices is an omen of forthcoming food security challenges which the world will face.

With approximately 210 million starving people, India needs to proactively take measures to reduce the demand-supply gap and address food security concerns.

Food Security

Collaborated action between private and public institutions: The Union Government has undertaken multiple initiatives to help improve access to food and nutrition for a massive target group.

These initiatives include public distribution system (PDS), Mid-day meal (MDM) scheme, National food for work programme (NFWP), Antyodaya anna yojana (AAY), Integrated child development scheme (ICDS), the Essential Commodities Act (ECA), National food security mission (NFSM), the Targeted PDS and National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA).

On the other hand, the private sector has also played a pivotal role in securing the nation's need for food by developing and marketing high yielding seeds, pesticides, nutrients, fertilisers, irrigation equipment and farm machinery.

Current Challenges

In spite of the Green Revolution and constant efforts for the past 60 years since independence, India today faces challenges of stagnating growth rates in yield (<1.5 per cent in the decade of 2001-2010 for rice and wheat as compared to over three per cent in the 1980s), depleting ground water levels, declining arable land area per capita and increased occurrence of natural catastrophes.

At farm level, the farming constituency today is still confronted with use of traditional and outdated methods of production, hence, resulting in low productivity.

Sixty per cent of net sown area is still under rain-fed agriculture.

An inefficient agri supply-chain, inadequate post-harvest infrastructural facilities, lack of adequate market access, insufficient and high rate of credit make agriculture a risky proposition.

The challenge is not only about producing more to feed more people but it is also about achieving it in a sustainable manner. Hence, a well coordinated action on multiple fronts by the Government and the private sector would be required to address concerns on food security.

Food security is a global socio-economic concern, which requires an integrated approach to curb the demand-supply mismatch with greater and closer collaboration among different stakeholders in the agricultural value chain.

Speeding up the APMC reform, will enable private companies to participate in the farm economy enabling better returns to the farmers due to better price discovery mechanism.

It will also help in establishing farmer's direct linkage with retailers through development of terminal markets and direct access to wholesale markets, and bring in efficiencies in the agri supply- chain.

Such policy initiatives along with a robust management of foodgrains stock will lead to adequately addressing the nation's need for food in years to come.

The private sector could further contribute towards the common objective by leveraging opportunities across the agri value- chain, few of which include:

Building integrated dairy farms: Milk is considered as a perfect food in many aspects given its fair blend of nutritional components. A growing and more affluent population will have a growing demand for more nutrition. Entrepreneurs and businessmen could set up integrated dairy plants to cater to the rising demand for milk & milk products.

Developing agro food parks: Development of innovative models such as agro food parks to directly link farmers to processors, reduce wastage, increase processing capacity and improving hub and spoke agro-management models will ensure superior food and supply chain management, thereby, securing the nation's food requirement.

Investment in storage infrastructure: Inefficient and insufficient post-harvest storage infrastructure results in enormous loss of food grains, fruits, vegetables, spices and exotic crops.

As India's appetite for food grows, we need to ensure year-round availability of food. It is, therefore, critical that to address this growing need of storage, warehouses are established after due diligence on locations and capacities to ensure economic viability and food security.

Developing crops that withstand abnormal weather: Global warming has led to erratic climatic conditions and patterns, leading to drastic natural catastrophes such as draughts, cyclones and floods.

This has led to a situation where certain geographies face huge losses of crops and livestock every year. The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Manila is working on paddy strains that can withstand submerged water conditions in fields and in saline waters. Boosting such studies and collaborations between agriculture research institutes and private players to enable commercial launch of such innovative products will help mitigate the risk of crop loss by draught or flood.

Developing crop and area specific farm equipment: Agriculture is an extremely labour-intensive occupation, which has now started facing a challenge of labour shortage.

The coming urbanisation and industrialisation will further aggravate the shortage of labour.

Hence, developing innovative crop-specific farm equipment and making them available at modest prices so as to enhance the level of mechanisation would contribute in the long run to increase output.

Establishing strong linkages between research and extension: There is a huge gestation period of several years for a product to launch from lab to farm. A well coordinated approach between companies, research institutions and Government organisations working in partnership to optimise agriculture livelihood, would ensure speedy delivery of innovative products, concepts and actions.

Adapting technology transfer: Early introduction and adaptation of well proven and ably demonstrated agricultural inputs, which have led to better economic returns in western geographies could boost the development roadmap and reduce the time to achieve the goal of achieving food security.

Conclusion

India has tremendous potential to increase the supply of food production. Result-oriented initiatives, coupled with a detailed roadmap on achieving the desired end-state across the entire agri value-chain, is critical to realise its fullest potential.

( The writer is the Founder, Managing Director & CEO of YES Bank )

Responses to the articles in these columns are invited from readers. They may be sent to agri-biz@thehindu.co.in

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