Promoting a Sustainable Agriculture and Food Sector: India

This report outlines the evolving challenges and policy context shaping India’s agriculture and food systems as the country approaches 2030, highlighting pressures from climate change, resource degradation, land fragmentation, urbanisation, and persistent malnutrition, alongside the adverse effects of chemical inputs on human health. It emphasises declining yields, soil fertility, soil organic carbon, and water availability, within a sector dominated by small and marginal farmers facing constraints in accessing technology, finance, and markets, with women disproportionately affected. The document critiques reliance on narrow productivity metrics, noting their failure to capture interconnections between food systems, environmental integrity, and human wellbeing, and presents a framework-based approach to support more comprehensive and evidence-based decision-making.