Food day as a reminder to ‘leave no one behind’
#GS-02 Social Security
For Prelims:
The Hunger Hotspots Outlook (2022-23):
- It is a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP).
World Food Day:
- World Food Day is celebrated on 16 October and has the theme, Leave NO ONE behind.
For Mains:
The need for ensuring food security:
- Currently, around 828 million people worldwide do not have enough to eat, and over 50 million people are facing severe hunger.
- Sustainable Development Goal 2 aims to end world hunger by 2030.
- Soil degradation by the excessive use of chemicals, non-judicious water use, and declining nutritional value of food products need urgent attention.
India’s Achievement:
- During 2021-22, it recorded $49.6 billion in total agriculture exports a 20% increase from 2020-21.
- India’s food safety nets collectively reach over a billion people.
- India has led the global conversation on reviving millet production for better lives, nutrition, and the environment, including at the UN General Assembly, where it appealed to declare 2023 as the International Year of Millets.
Some of India’s contributions to equity in food are:
- National Food Security Act (NFSA) 2013,
- the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS),
- the PM POSHAN scheme (earlier known as the Mid-Day Meals scheme), and
- the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS).
India’s concerns:
- Recent climate shocks have raised concerns about India’s wheat and rice production over the next year.
- By 2030, India’s population is expected to rise to 1.5 billion.
- Agri-food systems will need to provide for and sustainably support an increasing population.
What needs to be done:
- Ending world hunger by 2030 is possible only through collective and transformational action to strengthen agri-food systems, better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life.
- We need to move away from conventional input-intensive agriculture towards more inclusive, effective, and sustainable agri-food systems that would facilitate better production.
- Millets need fewer inputs, and they are less extractive for the soil and can revive soil health.
