Food System in India. Challenges, Performance and Promise

Abstract

India’s transformation of its food system from a highly deficient one in the mid-1960s to one that is self-reliant and marginally surplus now is a success story that holds lessons for many smallholder economies in Africa and south and south-east Asia. India has emerged as the largest producer of milk, spices, cotton and pulses; the second largest producer of wheat, rice, fruits and vegetables; the third largest producer of eggs; and the fifth largest producer of poultry meat. It is also the largest exporter of rice, spices and bovine meat. All of this became possible with an infusion of new technologies, innovative institutional engineering, and the right incentives. However, as India looks towards 2030 and beyond, its food system faces many challenges ranging from increasing pressure on natural resources (soils, water, air, forests) to climate change to fragmenting land holdings, increasing urbanisation, and high rates of malnutrition amongst children. To meet these challenges successfully, India needs a proper mix of policies- from the subsidy-driven to the investment-driven, from price policy to income policy, promoting agricultural diversification towards more nutritious food. It also needs to incentivise its private sector to build efficient and inclusive value chains, giving due importance to environmental sustainability. More innovative technologies, from green-to-gene, increasing digitalisation, the Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence, would be needed to ‘produce more from less’ with a goal of feeding the most populous nation on this planet by 2030 in a sustainable manner.