Context: World Food Day (October 16) is observed under the 2026 theme “Innovate today, nourish tomorrow”, highlighting the role of innovation in addressing hunger, malnutrition and food-system challenges.
- Around 645 million people face hunger, while one-third of the global population cannot afford a healthy diet, according to the article.
Major Challenges to Global Food Security
- Climate change: Extreme weather and shifting growing seasons reduce agricultural yields and disrupt food production.
- Economic shocks: Food-price inflation and declining purchasing power reduce access to adequate and nutritious food.
- Conflict and displacement: Wars destroy crops, displace farmers, disrupt supply chains and weaken institutions responsible for food assistance.
India’s Transition from Food Scarcity to Food Security
- Green Revolution: High-yielding crop varieties, irrigation expansion and assured prices increased cereal production, laying the foundation for India’s food security system.
- National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013: Provides subsidised foodgrain entitlements to up to 75% of the rural population and 50% of the urban population, covering approximately 81 crore people.
- Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY): Free foodgrains have been provided since January 2024, with the arrangement extended until 2028, as stated in the article.
- Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS): Distributes foodgrains to eligible beneficiaries through digitised ration cards, Aadhaar seeding and other technology-enabled mechanisms.
- One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC): Enables eligible beneficiaries, particularly migrant workers, to access their foodgrain entitlements from Fair Price Shops anywhere in the country.
Innovation in Agriculture and Food Systems
- Technology and data: Digital tools and agricultural advisories can improve farm-level decisions, productivity and resource efficiency.
- Climate-resilient agriculture: Innovation must help farmers adapt to climate risks while maintaining viable agricultural livelihoods.
- Efficient food safety nets: Digitisation, improved supply chains and better delivery systems can reduce leakages and improve access to food.
- Nutrition-oriented production: Food systems must move beyond cereal sufficiency towards diverse diets and nutrient-rich crops.
Role of International Organisations in India
1. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
- Digital agriculture: Develops advisory road maps and strengthens the capacities of frontline agricultural extension workers.
- Clean Milk Scorecard: Provides dairy farmers with a digital tool to assess cattle management, hygiene and milk-production practices and receive actionable feedback.
- Reducing food loss: Measures losses, evaluates their environmental impacts and promotes recovery through composting, bioenergy and recycling, improving resource efficiency and farmers’ incomes.
2. International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
- Focus: Supports smallholder farmers and underserved parts of food value chains where risks are high and private investment is limited.
- “Financing plus” approach: Combines finance with production support, market access and small-scale infrastructure to attract public and private investment.
- Investment mobilisation: Every dollar invested by IFAD in India has reportedly leveraged more than three dollars in total investment.
- Private-sector engagement: IFAD is expanding direct lending to private enterprises; India has one of its largest pipelines of such operations in Asia and the Pacific.
- Global evidence: Projects with strong private-sector participation have reportedly delivered income gains of 64%, four times those of projects without such participation.
3. World Food Programme (WFP)
- Public Distribution System (PDS): Supports greater efficiency through innovations such as Grain ATMs and supply-chain optimisation.
- Public Services Lab: Works with the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi to incubate solutions for improving public-service delivery.
- Nutrition-sensitive food assistance: Promotes dietary diversity and better food baskets, particularly for children and pregnant women, including the use of nutrient-rich millets and other nutri-cereals.
India’s Food Security Model: Lessons for the Global South
- Adaptable solutions: India’s experience addresses challenges such as fragmented landholdings, monsoon-dependent farming, multilingual populations and resource constraints.
- Beyond foodgrain sufficiency: Policy must increasingly prioritise nutritional adequacy, dietary diversity and equitable access to healthy food.
- Smallholder-oriented value chains: Farmers need better market access, finance and infrastructure so that they receive a fair share of value.
- Climate-resilient and biofortified crops: These can strengthen resilience while improving the nutritional quality of food.
- Inclusive innovation: Agricultural transformation must remain pro-smallholder and pro-woman, combining scientific advances with traditional knowledge.
Important Organisations for UPSC Prelims
- FAO: A specialised agency of the United Nations working to improve nutrition, agricultural productivity, food security and rural livelihoods.
- IFAD: An international financial institution and UN specialised agency that finances rural development and investments aimed at reducing rural poverty.
- WFP: A UN humanitarian organisation providing food assistance and emergency support; it received the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize.
- World Food Day: Observed annually on October 16, commemorating the founding of the FAO in 1945.
