2019 – Posted in: Daily News

Impact of the global food industry on the environment and on human health

For: Preliminary & Mains

Topics covered: About the report and key findings

A new global study has quantified the damage that the modern food industry does to human health, development and the environment costs.

The study was carried out by the Food and Land Use Coalition (FOLU), a global alliance of economists and scientists.

The report calls for the world to diversify its food production and consumption.

Global over-dependence on a relatively small number of staple foods leaves populations vulnerable to crop failures.
A small disruption in supply really can do a lot of damage and leads to huge price increases. And it will highly likely also lead to hunger and instability.
The report proposes a series of solutions, from encouraging more diverse diets to improve health and reduce dependency on specific crops, to giving more support to the types of farming that can restore forests, a key tool in fighting climate change.

India has 4 percent of global freshwater resources to support 19 percent of the world’s population.
80 percent of water in India goes to agriculture, primarily from groundwater sources, which is unsustainable.
Among various initiatives, the Eat Right Movement of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India in 2017, the National Food Security Act of 2013, the National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture, and the Zero Budget Natural Farming programme in Andhra Pradesh, already addresses critical transitions that the new report recommends.