The Shortcomings Of Agriculture, Food And Nutrition In India

As said our approach in establishing a link, between agriculture, food and nutrition in India, and how malnutrition can be reduced in India is to trace the shortcomings of some issues and their contribution to malnutrition.

First, the basic cause is the decline in the production of food grains and also the promotion of cash crops by the industries. According to a survey by an organisation in Mumbai shows that there is a trade-off of about 3 lakh hectares every year, in the land under cultivation of food crops to cash crops. This is mainly due to increase demand of cash crops like sugarcane, cotton, jute, etc. by sugar, cotton and jute industry respectively. This increased the production of these as more demand means high prices which in turn means more profits to the farmers. Another reason is the government control over the prices of food crops, which makes them less lucrative then the cash crops. All the government policies are related to the food crops mainly the wheat and rice which make their cultivation and trade less lucrative and profitable.

Another drawback in our country’s agriculture is the huge gap between the demand and production of pulses. Pulse being the cheapest source of protein for rural as well as urban area must be available to everyone at low or affordable prices but due to low production India imports huge amount of pulses, more than 3 million metric tonnes, every year. This leads to high prices of pulses to the consumers which in turn leads to low