Agri-tech investments are essential for food security in India, experts say

India's food security and climate resilience will continue to pose challenges unless government policies, farm economics and technology adoption are reworked and aligned with resource-poor farmers in remote areas, according to agri-entrepreneurs and farmer association representatives who spoke at Mint's Sustainability Summit held in New Delhi recently.

- Suneera Tandon

Ajay Vir Jakhar, chairman of Bharat Krishak Samaj, said existing policies that artificially depress food prices have created a cycle of unsustainable farming. "It's been the government's policy to artificially drive down prices to benefit the consumer, and that itself makes farming unsustainable. Farmers grow crops in an unsustainable way not because they want to do it but because the government incentivizes them to do it. The system values production and not sustainable practices," he said.

According to him, policies such as cheap subsidized fertilizers (like urea) and higher minimum support prices (MSPs) for certain crops keep farming practices unsustainable. Jakhar also pointed to the lack of farmer engagement in economic decision-making, adding that the government is not interested in sustainability but in populist policies.