Agri-Food Systems

Why in news:

Recently the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), published a report highlighting the staggering hidden costs of our global agri-food systems.

Synopsis:

• As per UNFAO, the State of Food and Agriculture 2023 report the staggering hidden costs of our global agrifood systems, surpassing an astonishing $10 trillion.
• In middle-income countries like India, these costs constitute nearly 11% of the GDP.
• This finally manifests as higher poverty, environmental harm, and health-related impact (including undernourishment and unhealthy dietary patterns).
• The report blames “unsustainable business-as-usual activities and practices” for these escalating costs, pointing to a need to transform agrifood systems.
• The report suggest a shift to multi-cropping systems that have the potential to protect farmers’ well-being, improve nutritional outcomes for our communities, and positively affect ecological health.

Intensive agriculture (Mono-cropping)

      A) Reason for growth

• The Green Revolution focused credit on inputs and marketing of high-yielding varieties of paddy and wheat on agricultural lands, which now constitute more than 70% of India’s agricultural production.
• The infusion of seeds purchased from multinational corporations and fertilizers and fueled a shift to monoculture plantations.
• The purchase policy through Minimum Support Price is cereal centric.
• In 2019-2020, the FCI procured 341.32 lakh million tons (MT) of wheat and 27 lakh MT of rice.
• However, the Indian government approved the procurement of a total of 3.49.lakh  MT of coarse grains such as jowar, bajra, ragi, maize
• The area under cultivation of coarse grains dropped by 20% between 1966-1967 and 2017-2018, whereas the area under rice and wheat increased by nearly 20% and 56%, respectively. 

      B) Adverse impact of Mono-cropping:

• The mono-cropping undermined seed sovereignty dismantled Indigenous knowledge systems.
• Mono cropping increase the dependency on private companies. This privatization and deregulation of agricultural inputs also increased indebtedness among agrarian households.

• Mono cropping also compromised the nutritional needs of households.
• Moreover, it also results in adverse ecological consequences including soil fertility and excessive extraction of groundwater.

Benefit of crop diversification:

• Diversified multi-cropping systems, rooted in agro-ecology principles, could be a viable solution to revitalize degraded land and soil.

• Moreover, coarse cereals such as millets, whose yield per hectare is comparable to those of rice and wheat.
• They are also more nutritious, grow in semi-arid conditions without burdening groundwater tables, require minimal input, and provide a diversified food basket.
• While crop diversification will involve some loss of productivity using a narrow metric of kg/Ha, it would preserve natural capital and allow farmers to become nutritionally secure.

The way to secure crop diversification:

• There is a need for a systematic and gradual transition that allows farmers to adjust over time.
• A phased transition, starting with moving away from chemical-intensive practices to non-pesticide management, and then adopting natural farming practices.
• Proposes income diversification for farmers through value addition, incorporating livestock and poultry.
• This diversification can be experimented with on specific portions of their lands to manage risk during the transition.

Subject: Economy

Topic: Agriculture and allied sector .

Issues: Crop diversification , Mono-cropping and Intensive Cropping.

Source: The Hindu