Sustainable Agriculture Systems and Technologies. Группа авторов

and Rao 2014; Prakasam 2019).

1.5 Policy Implication

      The situation of having sufficient amount of calories for the Indian population and yet evidences of significant lack in children and women shows the gap between demand and supply. The scattered distribution of prevalence of malnutrition across the states indicates that there is a need to classify the regions as per the gravity of the situation. There was more percentage of affected children in rural area as compared to urban area, suggesting that the focus needs to be more toward the rural beneficiaries. The surrounding environmental conditions in rural area are less clean and hygienic than those of urban area, hence the implementation of Swachh Bharat and village sanitation should be done more efficiently than that at present state. The situation of other socioeconomic indicators shows that there is need of a holistic approach toward improving the nutrition as well as education, awareness, and hygiene of the vulnerable states. The vulnerable sections need to be identified and then ways to tackle them need to be devised at localized scale rather than with a single policy at national level. There is a need to develop smooth transit of quality agricultural produce to different regions as the supply is the issue and not the availability. The focus needs to be more on raising the standard of living of vulnerable sections rather than increasing the growth rate of the state, as it does not indicate equitable distribution of income. Agriculture can help in improving the situation provided the focus shifts from production centric to profit‐centric agriculture. Make sure that the implementation is done properly through better monitoring and strict evaluation.

1.6 Conclusion

      Green revolution ensured the food security of the nation. But if looked into details, food security and nutrition security although sound similar but are dimensionally different aspects. Nutrition security is more concerned about the nutrient intake and then the absorption of the quality nutrients by the child and mother, while food security deals with availability, access, and affordability of quality food. India has gained paramount success in increasing the production, productivity of agricultural crops, and allied activities. But, the status of nutrition in children shows that this production has not been able to fulfill the calorie requirement of the children. This indicates a disparity between the production and consumption of the food items along with its equitable distribution. The SDG 2 – Zero hunger targets to end hunger, end malnutrition, increase agricultural productivity by 2030. When observed, undernutrition in India is a serious issue that needs immediate attention. This is because it starts from the health of the mother and then the nutrition of the child, thus, improvement in this status is a time consuming task. In states like Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Jharkhand one out of every two children is stunted and is suffering from undernutrition. These are states with dominance of agriculture and tribal population (Agricultural statistics at a glance 2018). The AARR of stunting in India is 2.2% which means till 2030, the prevalence will be reduced up to 33%, if the situation remains the same. This is a positive pace but slower in speed because the target of SDGs is to reduce the stunting prevalence by 50% by 2030 from the level of 2012. There is a dire need of research intervention on effect of socioeconomic factors, climate change, etc. on malnutrition. Investments will be needed to strengthen agriculture, improve food quality and nutrition, enhance overall food availability and access to all population segments, and to improve child nutrition and mortality outcomes.

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