India's landholdings shrink, food demand soars

SHRINKING LANDHOLDINGS and rising food demand are shaping a new agricultural landscape in India, highlights the latest policy paper by National Institute of Agricultural Economics and Policy Research under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR-NIAP).

- 

By 2047, the policy paper states, India’s aggregate food demand would exceed twice the current demand. However, farmland needed to meet this increased demand would shrink to 176 million hectares (mha) from the current 180 mha. To sustain these projected changes, the policy paper calls for reallocation of resources from traditional staples to more diverse