Sreejita Talukdar, Content Writer, Siliconindia

Agriculture is called as ‘the backbone of economic system in developing countries’, due to its major contribution in the economic growth and development. From the beginning, agriculture has played a key role in the evolution of mankind. One thing that strikes in the mind when the term agriculture is used is it is all about production as well as processing of food for human and animals whereas non-food item for manufacturing and industry purpose. Indisputably, agriculture has evolved and transformed from generations to generations, leaving behind traditional methodologies and adopting modern ideas and techniques.

For a populous country like India, it is very difficult to maintain the yield of agriculture with organic and healthy agricultural systems. The blending of modern techniques, modern elements, and modern tools to reach the desired level of outcomes had given birth to the concepts like food adulteration, poisonous fertilizers which are the silent killers for humans. And here the thin string of food and nutrition is being ripped off.

The factors like green revolution, globalization and industrialization are driving the commercial agriculture, where the sector is only focusing on quantity rather than quality and it leads to malnutrition. For a country like India which is geographically as well as culturally vast and diversified country, it is next to impossible to keep track of the levels of malnutrition.

Statistical Overview of Malnutrition in India The advent of modern food systems has led to a loss of knowledge and consumption of traditional and local nutrient-rich foods in favour of less nutritious, industrialized and processed food products. According to the Women and Child Development Ministry of India’s Poshan Tracker, there are over 14 lakh severely malnourished children in the country.

Global Hunger Index 2022 report says, prevalence of undernourished in the population is measured as 16.3%, child stunting is at 35.5%, child wasting is at 19.3% and child mortality rate is 3.3%. In India 44% of children under the age of 5 are underweight. 72% of infants and 52% of married women have anaemia.

India is ranked as the largest contributor of undernourished people with around 194.4 million people, or 14.37% of its population not receiving enough nutrition. Geographically, Maharashtra followed by Bihar and Gujarat have the worst levels of malnourishment in children in the country.

Day-by-day, the malnourishment levels are increasing due to a lot of socio-economic factors such as poverty, lack of awareness about nutrition, inappropriate food habits, lack of sanitation and availability of clean drinking water, and so on.

India has set an example of slow and steady path-breaking efforts to educate farmers about the benefits to be had with technology, which is revamping the foundation of agriculture in the country.