SOA Symposium: Urgent Action Needed To Address Food Security Concerns, Say Experts

Bhubaneswar: Urgent action is needed to tackle a unique challenge that Odisha is facing in the area of food security affecting children, eminent civil society leader Jagadananda said on Wednesday.

Around 29 per cent of children under the age of 5 are found to be stunted in growth while mothers in the age group of 15 to 29 suffer from malnutrition, pointed out Jagadananda, former member of State Planning Board and Co-Founder of the Centre for Youth and Social Development (CYSD).

The malnutrition scenario was more precarious in tribal areas, he observed.

Speaking at the inaugural function of a national symposium on ‘Artificial Intelligence and the Right to Food: Advancing Agriculture for a Better Future and a Better Life’ organised at the Institute of Agricultural Sciences (IAS), faculty of agricultural sciences of Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (SOA) Deemed to be University, Jagadananda referred to Odisha’s over-dependence on rain-fed agriculture as evident from just 30 per cent of the agricultural area being under irrigation.

Jagadananda said the need was to focus on climate-resilient agriculture, pointing out a link between water management and food security.

The programme was presided over by SOA Vice-Chancellor Prof. Pradipta Kumar Nanda. Dr Govinda Chandra Acharya, Principal Scientist and Head, Central Horticultural Experiment Station of ICAR Bhubaneswar, Prof. Santosh Kumar Rout, Dean of IAS and Prof. Jyoti Ranjan Das, Dean (Students’ Welfare) SOA also addressed the symposium.

Dr Acharya referred to the recent 2024 Global Hunger Index (GHI) report, which placed India at 105th place, and said that urgent action was needed for promotion of food production and improvement in the quality of agriculture.

The GHI report has categorised India’s position as ‘serious’ vis-à-vis hunger analysis, while Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka were listed in ‘moderate’ category.

According to Dr Acharya, concerted efforts are necessary to attain United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal of food security by 2030, even as climate change was posing great difficulties.

Prof. Nanda felt the challenge to attain SDG goal was huge as India was the most populous country and resources were limited.