India’s food basket must be enlarged (Global Hunger Index and Indian agrobiodiversity)

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 India’s food basket must be enlarged (Global Hunger Index and Indian agrobiodiversity)

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• India at 102 in GHI: The 102nd rank for India (out of 117 countries ranked) in the 2019 Global Hunger Index ranks is shameful.
• Definitions: Hunger is defined by calorific deprivation and protein hunger. Hidden hunger is deficiency of micronutrients.
• Stunting: 4.7 crore children in India (4 out of every 10) are stunted due to undernutrition. That creates poor learning ability and chronic diseases in life. Even 50% of women (15-49 yrs) in India are anaemic.
• Nutrition garden for schools: The Ministry of HRD wants schools to build 'nutrition gardens' and grow relevant fruits and vegetables. Benefits: can be used in noon-meals, improve team work, presentation skills etc.
• Agrobiodiversity: Of the 2.5 lakh plant species worldwide, 7000 have been used by humans in diets. But today just 30 crops are the basis of world agriculture, and only 3 species of maize, wheat and rice give more than 50% of world's calories! So agrobiodiversity - the diversity of crops - has diminished. So, food security will be at risk too.
• Genetic diversity of crops and livestock: A rich genetic pool ensures a wide variety.

1. 37 sites worldwide are GIAHS - Globally Important Agriculture Heritage Systems. Three are in India - Kashmir (saffron), Koraput (traditional agriculture), Kuttanad (below sea-level farming)
2. More than 811 cultivated plants and 902 wild relatives are documented. India is a centre of origin of rice, brinjal, citrus, banana, cucumber species.
3. Bio-fortified foods become possible by agrobiodiversity. Example - moringa (drumsticks) rich in micro nutrients.

• UN SDG 2: It advocates Zero Hunger. The Aichi Biodiversity Target focuses on conservation of genetic diversity of plants, livestock and wild relatives.

1. India now has a policy to increase agrobiodiversity (given by National Biodiversity Authority). How? Push 'ecological agriculture' to enhance native pest and pollinator population.
2. Bio-villages to be promoted for ecologically sensitive farming. Crop wild relatives of various crops to be conserved.
3. Community seed banks to be created in each agro-climatic zone
4. Developing a pan-India invasive alien species policy

• Why do we lose crop genetic resources: As farmers adopt new crop varieties and dump the traditional ones, they are lost. High output breeds for milk, eggs and meat raise concerns too. Consumption pattern and food diversity needs to be enlarged to increase India's food basket. Biodiversity has to be mainstreamed in agri policies.
• Summary : Genetic erosion in agriculture is a result of newer farming methods and crop varieties, but that leads to loss of long-term food security.

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