In the article published in The Tribune, “Ensuring nutritional security is the way forward”, the author has written about the complex challenges faced by India to achieve nutritional security, like:

These all can make it difficult for India to achieve the target of a ‘Zero-Hunger world’ by 2030.

As per the Economic Survey of India 2022-23, aiming for a transition from food security to nutritional security;

Nutrition is not just about feeding people. It is the intake of food, and the interplay of biological, social, and economic processes that influence the growth, function, and repair of the body (FAO 2013, as cited in FAO 2017).

Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. (2)

Hence, to improve nutrition for all, we need to make changes in food production and consumption.

• how it is processed,

• transported, 

• marketed and 

• consumed

1. The problem of a nutritionally poor diet could be tackled by increasing the bioavailable concentrations of essential nutrients such as proteins, minerals, and vitamins in food through innovations of agriculture with biotechnology, like biofortification, Golden rice with vitamin A and iron is a good example.

2. The inauguration of the "National Genome Editing & Training Centre" (NGETC) has been an important step towards Green Revolution strategy for increasing food crop productivity.

3. Minimizing post-harvest food losses along the entire supply chain can be done by:

a. Increasing infrastructure for integrated cold chain, storage, and food processing industries for perishable products.

b. Scientific storage of food grains in a resource-efficient way to improve food availability.

To face the challenges of food insecurity, resource conservation, and climate change, we need to introduce the food systems approach to policymaking and its implementation. It aims to connect the elements within the environmental, agricultural, health, trade, and industry sectors to widen the opportunities to achieve sustainable food systems and achieve optimum outcomes. (3)

The 4 actions of the Collaborative Framework for Food Systems Transformation are:-

Food systems present complex challenges but a systemic approach to solving the problems can go a long way ahead.

References

1. Bajwa MS. Ensuring nutritional security is the way forward. The Tribune. 2023 Feb 6.

2. Bortoletti M, Lomax J. Collaborative framework for food systems transformation. A multistakeholder pathway for sustainable food systems. UN environment. ISBN. 2019:978-2.

3. Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition. How can agriculture and food system policies improve nutrition? Technical brief. 2014.