India needs to grow a variety of crops to improve nutrition

Over the last few decades, India has focussed on producing rice and wheat, at the expense of other grains that are nutritionally more valuable.

The Green Revolution in the 1950s and the 1960s resulted in India becoming a major producer of rice and wheat in the world. But research reveals that if India diversifies its crops, it can deliver nutritional benefits to its citizens and it will also be good for the environment.

Rice and wheat form the staple diet of most Indias, but a lot of nutritionists will point to the fact that you need to have more variety in your food. You need to eat a variety of cereals and reduce the quantity of rice and wheat in your diet.

India has high rates of under and malnourishment; anemia rates are exceptionally high in women which is due to heavy consumption of rice (rice has low iron content).

Rice also consumes a lot of water and produces relatively high greenhouse gas emissions, and is also susceptible to drought.

Published in PNAS, the research shows that India stands to gain the following benefits by switching over to a more diverse crop that includes other grains like sorghum, finger, and pearl millet.

• It would reduce the energy usage of national cereal production
• It would reduce water-usage significantly
• Greenhouse gas emissions will also be reduced
• More importantly, the diversity of grains will boost the availability of protein and minerals such as iron.
• The switch will also increase the overall climate resilience of cereals, and farmers will incur fewer losses.

More importantly, these benefits can be gained without increasing the area needed to farm it, the new study explains.

I guess, it’s about time that we recognize the flaws in India’s decades-old farming system and take steps to address it.