What is a food system? 

• It is a framework that includes every aspect of feeding and nourishing people: from growing, harvesting and processing to packaging, transporting, marketing and consuming food. 
• To be sustainable, a food system must provide enough nutritious food for all without compromising feeding future generations.

Current state of India’s food system

• Though agricultural productivity has improved significantly in recent decades yet more than two billion people globally still lack access to sufficient, nutritious and safe food. 
• Projections show that the world is not on track to achieve zero hunger by 2030, or to meet global nutrition targets.

India’s food system during pandemic

• FAO, IFAD and the WFP worked in close coordination to support the Government of India’s Empowered Group 5 on facilitating supply chain and logistics management, so necessary items such as food and medicines were available.
• India has gone from being a net importer to a net exporter of food grains which is evident through the pandemic. 
• Central and State governments were able to distribute around 23 million tonnes from India’s large domestic food grain reserves in three months (April to June) through the Public Distribution System, providing much-needed emergency assistance to families around the country. 
• The government also successfully mobilised food rations for 820 million people from April to November 2020.
• There were efforts to remove bottlenecks in the food supply chain due to restrictions on movements, and to ensure that agricultural activities weren’t disrupted. 
• Agriculture grew at 3.4% during the first quarter this financial year and the area cultivated this kharif exceeded 110 million hectares. 

Challenges ahead

Malnutrition, anaemia

• Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey 2016-18 revealed that over 40 million children are chronically malnourished, and more than half of Indian women aged 15-49 years are anaemic. 

Climate change

• Climate change continues to be a real and potent threat to agrobiodiversity, which will impact everything from productivity to livelihoods across food and farm systems. 
• Intensified food production systems with excessive use of chemicals and unsustainable farming practices cause soil degradation, fast depletion of groundwater table and rapid loss of agro-biodiversity. 
• These challenges multiply with an increase in fragmentation of landholdings. 

Way forward

• The way we produce food must change through agroecology and sustainable production practices in agriculture and allied sectors.
• As one-third of the food we produce is wasted, ensuring generation of minimal waste can help overcome the issue of hunger and malnutrition.
• Adopt innovative solutions based on scientific evidence so they can build back better and make food systems more resilient and sustainable. 
• FAO (The Food and Agriculture Organisation), IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development) and WFP (The World Food Programme) should keep working with government, civil society, farmers’ organisations and the private sector to build sustainable food systems.

Why in the news?

• FAO is celebrating 75 years of fighting hunger in over 130 countries.
• IFAD became the first UN agency to receive a credit rating.
• WFP was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace this year, 2020.

Reference:

1. https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/the-road-to-zero-hunger-by-2030/article32865528.ece/amp/