Malnourishment, hunger biggest challenges: scientist

Director General of ICRISAT William Dar says over 1 bn people across the world go to bed hungry and millions of children in Asia are malnourished

Hunger and malnourishment pose a serious problem for children of the poor, stunting their growth and brain development, said Director General of the International Crop Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) William Dar here on Friday.

Delivering the convocation address at the 26th annual convocation of the University of Agricultural Sciences, he said, fighting hunger, malnourishment, poverty and achieving sustainable development had become the biggest challenge in India.

This challenge is further compounded by the looming 'perfect storm' brought about by the vagaries of climate, land degradation and loss of bio-diversity, he said.

Dar said that over 1 billion people across the world go to bed hungry and millions of children in Asia are malnourished. India's 1.2 billion people account for 17 per cent of the world population and the malnourishment among the children here varies from 50 per cent to 92 per cent.

He said, the government still needs to deliver on commitments to invest in agriculture, food security and nutrition. Talk has been thick, but remains unmatched by action.

The need has arisen to investigate the emerging nexus between agriculture, nutrition and health on the one hand and food, water and energy on the other. By optimising the use of resources, innovation can contribute to the push for a sustainable and resilient 'green economy', he asserted.

In India, the number of farm holdings is increasing, but the size of the agricultural farms has been shrinking over the years. Agriculture accounts for 16 per cent of the GDP, but continues to be the main source of livelihood for over 60 per cent of the population.

Adding to the woes, students are shying away from agricultural colleges and university believing that agriculture is not a respected profession.

The experts and policy makers should make agriculture a respectable business and farming a profitable enterprise so that educated youth could take it up as a profession.