The Food, Agriculture, and Nutrition in India 2020 report is available for download in PDF format.

The Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI) will hold a virtual launch event for one of its newest reports, Food, Agriculture, and Nutrition in India 2020: Leveraging Agriculture to Achieve Zero Hunger (FAN 2020), on August 4, 2020, from 8-9:30 a.m. EDT/5:30-7 p.m. IST. The event, which will be livestreamed at facebook.com/tatacornellinstitute, features a panel of esteemed experts on agriculture and food systems in India.

FAN 2020 provides an analysis of India’s progress towards achieving the second sustainable development goal—zero hunger. Using district-level data and maps, the report highlights stark spatial differences in the extent of the hunger problem and identifies potential paths forward.

The launch event features a discussion of the report by a panel of experts, including:

• Trilochan Mohapatra, ICAR;
• Ramesh Chand, NITI Aayog;
• Purvi Mehta, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; and
• Jacqueline Hughes, ICRISAT.

TCI director Prabhu Pingali, as well as FAN 2020 co-authors Kiera Crowley and Andaleeb Rahman, will also be on hand to discuss the report and its implications for efforts to combat hunger and malnutrition in India.

In recent decades, India has made significant progress in reducing hunger, at least in terms of calories. But about 210 million Indians remain undernourished, while many others suffer from micronutrient deficiencies and obesity.

FAN 2020 provides a detailed assessment of the prospects for improving productivity and farm incomes across India’s highly varied agroecologies and cropping systems. It emphasizes the need for continued high-level investments in agricultural infrastructure and research to sustain past gains and exploit new opportunities for growth. FAN 2020 calls for reorienting agricultural policy away from its traditional focus on staples, such as rice and wheat, and toward enhancing the productivity and supply of coarse cereals, pulses, fruits, vegetables, and livestock products.

The report is the inaugural issue in a series produced by TCI. Each report will provide periodic assessments of the food, agriculture, and nutrition situation in India.