‘Horticulture can solve malnutrition’

(According to the Unicef, one in every three malnourished children in the world is an Indian. India has more malnourished children than the African countries. And about 50 per cent of all childhood deaths are attributed to malnutrition. ) “One of the fundamental ways to overcome malnutrition issue is to improve diets of people and increase sustainable income for a better livelihood. This could be done with horticulture as a medium,” the secretary said. Technological advancements have been luring youngsters and diverting people from agriculture to horticulture, fisheries and diary farming, which help in inclusive and sustainable growth of people.

Horticulture is poised for a great leap forward, but India’s conservatism and reluctance to break the shackles of anxiety over food security hampers further growth of horticulture in the country, he addedEminent agriculture scientist and founder chairman of MSSRF in Chennai, M.S. Swaminathan said that the country has been slowly diverting its attention from food security to nutrient security, for which horticulture plays the role of a catalyst.

Governor K. Rosaiah said horticulture plays a pivotal role in overcoming the perennial malnutrition in India. “Increasing demand for more production, labour shortage, shrinking land resources and India’s vulnerability to climate change are some of the major challenges faced by the horticulture sector,” he said. The governor said that horticulture in India has made stupendous progress to surpass the food grain production of 262 tonnes during 2012-13 to 268 million tonnes.

“India is the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world after China. The floriculture industry has also been growing at 24 per cent per annum. Further Indian flower export markets, which are estimated at 11 billion US dollars is expected to grow up to 20 billion US dollars by 2020,” he said.