A Balanced Diet

Context: Framing an optimal agri-food policy based on diversification of crops is the need of the hour.

Need for an optimal agri-food policy for India

• Increasing population: By 2030, the country is likely to have almost 600 million people living in urban areas, who would need safe food from the hinterlands.
• Limited cultivable land and water availability for agriculture: Indian agriculture has an average holding size of 1.08 hectare (2015-16 data) while engaging 42 % of the country’s workforce.

Preferable objectives of (and challenges to) an optimal agri-food policy for India:

1. Produce enough food, feed and fibre: through the following measures:
   • Invest in Research and Development (R&D) for agriculture: At present, India invests about 0.5% of their agri-Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in R&D as opposed to a required minimum of 1 %.
2. Equal importance to productivity and environmental protection:
   • Discard subsidised input price policy to protect natural resource endowments:
     • Free electricity and highly subsidised fertilisers are damaging groundwater levels and its quality. (shall be replaced with income support policies)
   • Discard Minimum Support Price (MSP) / Fair and Remunerative Pricing (FRP): to promote crop diversification; At present rice (water consumption is high) and wheat is overproduced.
     • While rice remains globally competitive, its exports also put pressure on water levels of India.
     • Crops with no MSP are already growing much faster than the crops with MSP; E.g. Poultry, fishery, dairy, and even horticulture.
     • The total value of MSP for paddy, wheat, pulses, oilseeds and cotton, disbursed by the government, was just about 6% of the total agriculture and allied sector.

3. Strengthen the supply chain: by enabling seamless movement of food from farm to fork, keeping marketing costs low, save on food losses in supply chains.
   • Bring efficiency in agri-marketing and lower transaction costs: By improving logistics, increasing investments in supply lines and eliminating intermediaries.
4. Provide safe and nutritious food at affordable prices.
   • Address malnutrition: by solving problems associated with women’s education, immunisation, and sanitation and provide nutritious food.
   • Revamp Public Distribution System (PDS): Full food subsidy bill shall be put in the central budget rather than putting it under the Food Corporation of India (FCI) borrowings (Rs 3 Lakh crores).
     • The FCI adds 40 % cost over the MSP while procuring, storing and distributing food.
     • Thus giving beneficiaries of subsidised rice and wheat a choice to opt for cash equivalent to MSP plus 25 % will help save money and also lead to increased supply of diversified food.

Conclusion: An agri-food policy shall be based on a demand-driven approach that protects sustainability and efficiency in production and marketing, and gives consumers more choice for low priced nutritious food.