India’s remarkable economic and agricultural transformation over the past six decades underscores both its achievements and emerging challenges in food and nutritional security. From producing 82 million tonnes (Mt) of foodgrains in 1960–61 to approximately 357.7 Mt in 2024–25, India has not only met the caloric needs of its rapidly growing population but has also become the largest exporter of rice globally, shipping over 20.2 Mt in FY2025 alone. At the same time, the country administers the PM-Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY), the world’s most extensive public food distribution scheme, which supplies 5 kg of free rice or wheat monthly to more than 800 million people. This combination of high production and subsidised access to basic staples has led to historic public food stocks, with the Food Corporation of India holding close to 57 Mt of rice — nearly four times the strategic buffer norm as of mid-2025. These gains have occurred alongside a significant reduction in extreme poverty, which has declined from 27.1 percent in 2011 to 5.3 percent in 2022. Despite these positive trends in food availability and poverty alleviation, chronic undernutrition persists, particularly among children. The National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5, 2019–21) shows that 35.5 percent of children under the age of five are stunted, 32.1 percent are underweight, and 19.3 percent are wasted, revealing that caloric sufficiency alone does not guarantee nutritional well-being. These figures highlight the need to broaden the definition of food security to include nutrient quality, dietary diversity, and the micronutrient content of diets.
A significant but often under-recognised driver of nutritional outcomes is soil health. The mineral composition of soils influences not only crop yields but also the concentration of micronutrients in food crops. Research studies also demonstrate a biological pathway through which soil nutrient deficits can translate into widespread micronutrient deficiencies in humans, driving a hidden form of malnutrition that persists despite abundant food supplies. Assessments under the Soil Health Card (SHC) scheme reveal that large proportions of Indian soils are poor in essential nutrients such as nitrogen (N), soil organic carbon (SOC) and micronutrients like zinc (Zn) and boron (B), limiting both productivity and crop nutrient density. These imbalances stem from longstanding imbalanced use of fertilisers, limited integration of organic matter, and inadequate attention to micronutrient replenishment, resulting in soils that may produce high yields but with compromised nutritional quality. Given the multifaceted links between soil health, crop health and human nutrition, this report advocates for a holistic policy, product and practice shift. Structural changes are needed in fertiliser policy to encourage balanced nutrient use, enhanced soil diagnostics to inform precision nutrient management, expanded research and development of tailored fertiliser products, the customization of fertiliser grades as per crop and soil requirement and promotion of agronomic practices following 4R principle of nutrient management (right time, right source, right rate and right place) for precision input and efficient nutrient management. The practices together can restore physical, chemical and biological soil health. By nurturing soil ecosystems to be nutrient-rich and biologically active, India can improve agricultural productivity and the micronutrient quality of food crops, thereby contributing to better health outcomes and long-term national development.
