Sustainable Agriculture, Poverty, Food Security and Improved Nutrition

Abstract

Science and technological developments have increased food production thus contributing for easy accessibility to food. However, about 794 million people are undernourished in terms of calorie deficiency; 161 million children under 5 years of age are stunted—an indicator of chronic malnutrition; 51 million children under 5 years of age are wasted—an indicator of acute malnutrition; and micronutrient deficiency, particularly vitamin A, iodine, iron, and zinc, affected two billion people. At the same time, around 1.9 billion people are affected by overweight or obesity problem. Since the eradication of hunger has not been met under Millennium Development Goals, SDG-2 aims to end hunger by fixing targets in 2030 along with food security and sustainable agriculture. The targeted PDS, Integrated Child Development Scheme, Poshan Abhiyaan and Midday Meal Scheme are flagship public programmes directed towards addressing the nutritional outcomes for women and children. Similarly, the government’s flagship programmes such as Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), National Food Security Mission (NFSM) and various other programs related to irrigation and insurance are geared to enhance agricultural productivity. The financial requirement for India to meet its costs for food security is around INR 46 lakh crores (USD 729 billion) from 2015 to 2024. To speed up progress on both reducing all forms of malnutrition by 2025 and achieving zero hunger by 2030, holistic and integrated approach on nutritional programmes, scale up finance and galvanizing Public-Private Partnerships in the nutritional security are recommended.

Appendices

Annexure 1: Target and Indicators of Global SDG2

Target no.	Global SDG	Indicator no.	SDG global indicators
2.1	‘By 2030 end hunger and ensure access by all people, in particular the poor and people in vulnerable situations including infants, to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round’	2.1.1	‘Prevalence of undernourishment’
		2.1.2	Prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity in the population, based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES)
2.2	‘By 2030 end all forms of malnutrition, including achieving by 2025 the internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under 5 years of age, and address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women, and older persons’	2.2.1	‘Prevalence of stunting (height for age−2 standard deviation from the median of the World Health Organization (WHO) Child Growth Standards) among children under 5 years of age’
		2.2.2	‘Prevalence of malnutrition among children under 5, disaggregated by type viz., wasting and overweight’
2.3	‘By 2030 double the agricultural productivity and the incomes of small-scale food producers, particularly women, indigenous peoples, family farmers, pastoralists and fishers, including through secure and equal access to land, other productive resources and inputs, knowledge, financial services, markets and opportunities for value addition and non-farm employment’	2.3.1	‘Volume of production per labor unit by classes of farming/pastoral/forestry enterprise size’
		2.3.2	‘Average income of small-scale food producers, by sex and indigenous status’
2.4	‘By 2030 ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, that help maintain ecosystems, that strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change, extreme weather, drought, flooding and other disasters, and that progressively improve land and soil quality’	2.4.1	‘Percentage of agricultural area under sustainable agricultural practices’
		2.4.2	‘Percentage of agricultural households using irrigation systems compared to all agricultural households’
		2.4.3	‘Percentage of agricultural households using eco-friendly fertilizers compared to all agricultural households using fertilizers’
2.5	‘By 2020 maintain genetic diversity of seeds, cultivated plants, farmed and domesticated animals and their related wild species, including through soundly managed and diversified seed and plant banks at national, regional and international levels, and ensure access to and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge as internationally agreed’	2.5.1	‘Number of plant and animal genetic resources for food and agriculture secured in either medium or long-term conservation facilities’
		2.5.2	‘Proportion of local breeds classified as being at risk, not-at-risk or at unknown level of risk of extinction’
2.a	‘Increase investment, including through enhanced international cooperation, in rural infrastructure, agricultural research and extension services, technology development, and plant and livestock gene banks to enhance agricultural productive capacity in developing countries, in particular in least developed countries’	2.a.1	‘The agriculture orientation index for government expenditures’
		2.a.2	‘Total official flows (official development assistance plus other official flows) to the agriculture sector’
2.b	‘Correct and prevent trade restrictions and distortions in world agricultural markets including by the parallel elimination of all forms of agricultural export subsidies and all export measures with equivalent effect, in accordance with the mandate of the Doha Development Round’	2.b.1	‘Agricultural export subsidies’
2.c	‘Adopt measures to ensure the proper functioning of food commodity markets and their derivatives, and facilitate timely access to market information, including on food reserves, in order to help limit extreme food price volatility’	2.c.1	‘Indicator of food price anomalies’

1. Source: United Nations (2015)

Annexure 2: The Road Map and the Way Forward to Achieve the Targets Under SDG 2

Fig. 2.10

The road map and the way forward to achieve the targets under SDG 2