October 2022 | Volume-2, Issue-2
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of United Nations (UN) celebrates 16 October as World Food Day to draw attention to “better production, better nutrition, better environment and a better life”. The population projection indicates that we have to feed 9.1 billion people by 2050, hence food and nutrition availability needs to be paced up while combating climate shocks. India will surpass China’s population by 2023, reaching 1.43 billion by 2023 and 1.59 billion by 2050. With expanding population and higher income level, food demand has witnessed rapid increase, which has serious environmental consequences. Food systems are responsible for 70% of freshwater usage and 29% of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions.
I hope the readers and the articles in this edition of AF-TAB informative and insightful. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of 2030 by UN include eradicating hunger, agricultural sustainability, augmenting productivity of small-scale producers, increasing public investment in agriculture, among others. Around 35% of world’s food is produced by small farmers comprising landholding of less than 2 hectares. India is home to 93 million farmers and among them 86% are small holders facing challenges of land fragmentation, market volatility, technology adoption and climate risk vulnerabilities. Hence, sustainable agricultural growth and food and nutritional security depend on the performance of the small farmers in the country.
