GRAINS FOR SURVIVAL - CLIMATE CHANGE, TECHNOLOGY AND FOOD SECURITY IN INDIA

As the world population increases, the access and availability of safe, healthy, and nutritious food inequality is a rising concern. According to the UN, there are about 224.3 million people who are undernourished in India. And, that’s where Food Security comes into the picture. According to the World Bank and World Food Summit, Food Security is when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. It has three dimensions: food availability which includes production, distribution, and exchange, food utilization includes affordability, allocation, and food utilization which includes nutritional value, social value, and food safety. 

Food Security is really crucial for a country like India because of the faster pace of population growth leading to more food demand, malpractices such as black marketing by traders leading to inequality in the supply of food, and unequal production of food crops due to climate change and various external factors. Furthermore, about 16.4% of people live in poverty which makes it hard for them to access food in times of crisis, natural calamities, and market inflation.  

Food Security is strongly also connected to environmental changes as extreme weather events affect the agriculture of the region. According to World Bank, a severe drought caused by an El Nino weather pattern or climate change can push millions of people into poverty, extreme weather patterns such as flood has led loss of about 33.9 million hectares of crop in the last 6 years whereas there was a loss of harvest due to the worst heatwave in 122 years. Furthermore, agriculture is one of the major consumers of water for irrigation purposes but 65% of the region in India has low groundwater levels which creates unequal access to irrigation leading to variation in cropped areas and drought. These occurrences serve as a major threat to Food Security as it reduces the production and availability of food. 

The challenges to Food Security in India are decreasing quality of soil due to the usage of chemicals and natural calamities, invasive weed threats such as locust attacks, lack of efficient management framework, adverse effects of climate change such as extreme weather events, gaps in the public distribution system such as damage to food grains during transportation poor quality of food and imbalance in food grains. 

To tackle some of these challenges, India has been implementing several technological solutions. Two of the recent advancements in the technology are:  

- Hydroponics: Dating back to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, this technology is used to cultivate plants without using soil. In the system, the plants are grown on water and coco peat along with all the necessary nutrients required which are supplied to them directly through their roots. It helps them to save their energy which was used earlier for sustaining their life. Hydroponics offers several benefits which include 50% fostered growth of the plant, fresh harvest throughout the year, higher yield, can be used to grow crops in the areas where crops in soils cannot grow, and eliminating the excessive usage of pesticides and chemicals. Furthermore, the water is also required less in this system than in the soil growing crops and only 10% of the water is used in it which can be again reused. Several crucial factors such as light availability, water availability, pH balance, and temperature can be set according to the type of plant.

- Genetic Engineering: Genetically modified are plants grown for food whose genes are altered using genetic engineering, for example, cotton and maize can be genetically modified. These crops produce higher yields and have enhanced nutrition. Further, Bacillus thermogenesis which is one of the examples of genetically modified bacteria is used as a biopesticide pos to no harm to the environment unlike the chemical pesticide similarly, genetically modified organisms can be made to kill only weeds saving the plant and animals. It can help us grow food with extra and desired nutritional value, such as rice is currently being modified for containing Beta Carotene for vitamin A. Furthermore, crops grown in difficult areas can be also contributed.

Other technologies such as precision agriculture are also used here drones and robotic sensor systems are used for monitoring the needs of the crops and management and sensors for smart irrigation systems. So, let’s make sure that we utilize our STEM education to tackle Food Security. 

References:
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[2]  Nanotechnology for enhancing food security in India. (2011, March 17). Nanotechnology for Enhancing Food Security in India - ScienceDirect. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2010.10.012

[3]  Food Security of India - Overview on Food Subsidies, Public Distribution System (PDS). (n.d.). BYJUS. https://byjus.com/free-ias-prep/food-security-india/

[4]  Number of undernourished people in India declines to 224.3 million; obesity among adults on the rise: U.N. report. (2022, July 7). Number of Undernourished People in India Declines to 224.3 Million; Obesity Among Adults on the Rise: U.N. Report - the Hindu. https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/number-of-undernourished-people-in-india-declines-to-2243-million-obesity-among-adults-on-the-rise-un-report/article65611180.ece
[5]  Food Security - Definition, Need and Food Insecurity - GeeksforGeeks. (2022, March 13). GeeksforGeeks. https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/food-security-definition-need-and-food-insecurity/

[6]  What is Food Security? There are Four Dimensions. (n.d.). World Bank. https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/agriculture/brief/food-security-update/what-is-food-security

[7]    Climate Explainer: Food Security and Climate Change. (n.d.). World Bank. https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2022/10/17/what-you-need-to-know-about-food-security-and-climate-change

[8] What Are Hydroponic Systems and How Do They Work? (n.d.). Fresh Water Systems. https://www.freshwatersystems.com/blogs/blog/what-are-hydroponic-systems

[9]  Datta, A. (2013, November 1). Genetic engineering for improving quality and productivity of crops - Agriculture & Food Security. BioMed Central. https://doi.org/10.1186/2048-7010-2-15

[10] All about Hydroponics. (2020, December 17). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBcnUUkdavE

[11] GM Crops | Genetics | Biology | FuseSchool. (2020, December 7). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZIYkYNpnP0