‘Innovate Today, Nourish Tomorrow’ for Food Security, Pg8

Key Highlights:

• World Food Day 2026 was observed on October 16 with the theme "Innovate today, nourish tomorrow," highlighting the urgent need for innovation in food security.
• Globally, 645 million people face hunger, and one-third of the world's population cannot afford a healthy diet due to climate risks, economic shocks, and conflicts.
• India has transformed into a food-surplus nation, becoming one of the largest producers of foodgrains, milk, pulses, fruits, and vegetables.
• The National Food Security Act, 2013, provides subsidized foodgrains to 81 crore people, covering up to 75% of the rural and 50% of the urban population.
• Since January 2024, foodgrains are provided free under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, extended until 2028.

Detailed Insights:

• India's journey from scarcity to surplus was significantly driven by the Green Revolution, which introduced high-yielding varieties and expanded irrigation.
• The country's food safety net is bolstered by the Targeted Public Distribution System, enhanced by digitised ration cards, Aadhaar seeding, and the One Nation One Ration Card scheme.
• The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) supports digital agriculture and addresses food loss through advisory roadmaps and tools like the Clean Milk Scorecard.
• The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) focuses on financing the "first mile" of food systems, leveraging private investment for rural development.
• The World Food Programme (WFP), a 2020 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, works to improve the efficiency of public food distribution and nutritional effectiveness, including promoting millets.
• India's innovations, shaped by constraints like fragmented landholdings and monsoon-fed agriculture, offer a blueprint for other nations in the Global South facing similar challenges.
• The future of food security requires a shift from mere sufficiency to better nutrition, scalable innovations, and equitable food systems that are climate-resilient.

Key Concepts Involved:

• World Food Day: An international day celebrated annually on October 16 to commemorate the founding of the FAO.
• Green Revolution: A period of rapid agricultural growth in India, primarily in the 1960s and 1970s, through the adoption of modern farming methods.
• National Food Security Act, 2013: An Act of the Parliament of India that aims to provide subsidized food grains to approximately two-thirds of India's population.
• Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana: A food security welfare scheme by the Government of India that provides free food grains to the poor.
• Targeted Public Distribution System: A system in India that distributes subsidized food and non-food items to India's poor.
• One Nation One Ration Card: A scheme allowing portability of food security benefits, enabling beneficiaries to claim their food grains from any Fair Price Shop in the country.