Introduction

Technology

The global demand for food is stated to double by 2050 and it has to be met from even less land area than that which is under cultivation today as agricultural land is increasingly lost to urbanisation. Reclaiming forests or grasslands for cultivation is not a viable solution as it will have negative environmental impacts including climate change. There is thus, an urgent need to increase the per acre productivity of land.

This is where the role of technology comes into the picture. Technology in this context includes its ambit methods, knowledge and science. Technologies that are capable of doubling productivity through environmentally sustainable means already exist. It is important to facilitate the transfer and mainstreaming of these technologies so that they can have a significantly positive impact on the global food production.

DA has collaborated with academic institutions such as NRCAF and ICRISAT to transfer emerging agricultural technologies and know-how to the farmer, and with the support of agencies such as NABARD and state governments we continue our efforts to mainstream these initiatives and make them available to a large number of farmers. Farmers who have participated in our initiatives achieved an increase of as much as 30-50% in productivity levels of their crops.

Institutions

It is important to put the farmer at the centre of efforts to increase agricultural productivity. When a diminishing community of farmers endeavours to feed a globally increasing population, ensuring food security for all entails addressing also the problems faced by small farmers. They must be empowered to access knowledge and quality inputs at competitive prices.

It is also equally important to create platforms for engagement between scientists, policy makers and farmers so that the scientific community is responsive to the problems faced by the farmers. Advances in knowledge must be put in the farmers’ hands if we want these advances to be translated into increased production. Policy makers also form a critical component in creating support systems and enabling environment, including finances, required for the efforts of all these three stakeholders to converge efficiently.

DA has been organising farmers into farmers’ clubs and federations to help them engage in cross-learning and establish forward and backward linkages with the private sector as well as resource and technical agencies. We have reached out to over fifty thousand farmers in the Bundelkhand region. We have also been organising events and training programmes where agricultural department officials and scientists engage directly with farmers for a grassroot-research-policy connect.

Environment

With climate change impacts becoming more intense and frequent over the years, the vulnerability of the agriculture sector is becoming increasingly evident. Ironically, the sector itself is a significant contributor to the phenomenon, whether it is through the conversion of forests or grasslands that act as carbon sinks, to cultivated land which generates emissions, or through the use of emission intensive chemical fertilisers.

Resource efficiency and a greater emphasis on the preservation and sustainable use of ecosystem services has to be integrated in the agricultural development strategies that are being promoted at present. In particular, regeneration and sustainable management of water resources assume a critical importance as currently the lack of irrigation sources is one of the major factors limiting productivity.

DA has been promoting climate smart and sustainable practices across its network of farmers in the Bundelkhand region and at least ten thousand farmers have already adopted these practices.

Conclusion

It is thus evident that meeting the food security challenges will require adequate responses from the technological, institutional and environmental angles to converge into partnerships and collaborations across boundaries and disciplines. q