Skip to main content

Food system transitions in India may impact global food system: Study

Fortification and reformulation focus is already underway in India, ensuring availability of nutritious food to under nourished population

Related Category: Sub Category:

Leading agribusiness company, Cargill, FICCI and Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) today launched the ‘Fixing Asia’s Food Systems’, a five-part research programme that explores a range of issues and is centred around a survey of 400 business leaders in the region. The first part, ‘Separate Tables: Bringing together Asia’s food systems’, focuses on six key mega trends: urbanisation; the double burden of under-nutrition and obesity; technology constraints; the need for transparency and sustainability; and politics.

Speaking at the launch, Union Minister for Food Processing Industries, Harsimrat Kaur Badal said that in the coming years, India, China and Indonesia would set the food trends for the world and therefore there is a need for a body to represent the three countries that will collectively address the issue of fixing Asia’s food systems in a holistic manner.

She said that the stakeholders need to take a pledge for ‘zero tolerance’ on food wastage as today the amount of food gets wasted in these three countries is equal to the entire GDP of Indonesia (close to USD 3,492 billion in PPP terms). India, she said has the capacity to become the food factory of the world as it has yet to achieve the yield potential of crops.

Presenting the research findings, Siraj Chaudhry, Chairman, Cargill India and former Chair of FICCI’s Food Processing Committee said, “The report gives the perspective of businesses on what the food scenario looks like in Asia. The key mega trends are urbanisation, the double burden of under-nutrition and obesity, technology constraints, need for transparency and sustainability and politics.

With Asian cities set to expand by 578m people by 2030 and upto 85 percent of the increase in the global middle class expected to come from Asia, urbanisation will have significant effects on food production and demand in the region, says the study. China, India and Indonesia alone will account for 75 percent of Asia’s total population and 60 percent of its real GDP by 2030. Income growth in Asia will continue to drive the transition away from direct consumption of cereals and towards more diverse diet. Dairy products and eggs account for a larger proportion of calories consumed in India (6 percent) and China (4 percent) than in Indonesia (1 percent). India has a strong vegetarian culture, but projections estimate that India’s meat consumption (mainly chicken and fish at 63 percent) will rise to 9 kg by 2050, from a base of 3 kg.
People will continue to need access to food that is affordable, safe and nutritious. According to the study, Asia is home to nearly two-thirds of the world’s malnourished. Across Southeast Asia, an estimated 60 million children under the age of five are stunted. One in five children in India are wasted (low weight for height). The government can extend the progress made through policy changes, regulatory measures and encouraging public investments to make our food systems more responsive to nutritional needs. Improvements in nutritional status will not happen unless the incomes of rural households increase, prices of nutritious foods are kept affordable, and households are better informed about nutritional content of food and the need to diversify their diets. Fortification and reformulation focus is already underway in India, ensuring availability of nutritious food to under nourished population.
On the other hand, there are indications that developing countries have a strong interest in sustainability. However, estimates suggest that sustainable products are 30 percent more expensive than traditional products, which means the shift towards sustainable food is likely to be led by higher-income countries by 2030. The report also mentions R&D in food production in Asia will remain a key driver of agricultural development. India’s investment in R&D needs to be increased from the current figure of 0.4 percent of the agricultural GDP to enhance productivity, manage resource scarcity and climate change to help achieve objective of increased farmer remuneration.
And lastly, politics will continue to play a key role in food systems due to divergent interests and resource scarcity. A balance is needed between the approach of protecting farmers’ interests through the use of subsidies, price floors or trade barriers and consumer interests as this may come in the form of higher prices for consumers. By 2030, Asia is projected to need 65 percent more water for industrial use, 30 percent more water for domestic use and 5 percent more water for agricultural use. This increased need for water, coupled with declining resources, will drive water politics between upper and lower riparian countries. More technology intensive farming is the need of the hour, for ex-climate smart agriculture, precision and vertical agriculture.
Future articles in the series will go deeper into fragmented supply chains, structural changes in Asian diets, water challenges, and innovation’s role in creating new solutions and foods for the future. Together, “Fixing Asia’s food systems” provides both an in-depth and comprehensive overview of the challenges all stakeholders need to address and a collection of potential solutions to help drive change at the pace that’s needed.
“As Asia’s population grows and urbanises, it is imperative that regional co-operation improves and food supply chains become smarter, better integrated and more efficient,” said Rashmi Dalai, an EIU managing editor and the project manager for Fixing Asia’s Food Systems. “However, this is no easy task. A complex ecosystem of often divergent policy and societal concerns needs to be brought into alignment. This can only be done by first agreeing on the issues at hand and the urgency with which they need to be addressed.”

2 Votes with an average with 3

Related Story

Hatsun Agro Product to expand to 3,500 retail outlets soon

Hatsun Agro Product, India's leading private sector dairy company will reach the retail milestone of 3,500 outlets by July 2019. Currently, the retail network of HAP includes 3,420 company direct…

India to host mega food processing event in November

World Food India 2019 will be held from 1-4th November 2019 in New Delhi and will position India as food processing destination of the world. It will be the biggest gathering of all global and…

Dairy Day launches Chilli Guava

Dairy Day, a leading ice cream brand in South India, has launched ‘Chilli Guava’, a delicious mix of guava fruit pulp, chilli and salt in Bengaluru today. Dairy Day’s Chilli Guava brings the…