During the discussion on “Coordinating Action in a Global Alliance for Food Security” chaired by Ms. Svenja Schulze, German Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Shri Pandey emphasized upon India’s role in providing the world’s largest food support system to its countrymen as well as supporting other countries on humanitarian grounds.

“During the COVID pandemic, at the initiative of the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, we embarked on what can be described as the world’s largest ever food support system to cover nearly 810 million people in India. Even today, more than two years after we began, we still continue to provide food support to these vulnerable people who are equivalent to the population of Europe and the United States combined. To ensure rightful targeting, the whole system was run on a massive technology platform which was biometrically authenticated,” Shri Pandey said during the event.

Adding on he said, “For its part, India continues to remain committed for good in this world, being deeply conscious of its responsibilities towards the most vulnerable in various parts of the world. We have continued to provide humanitarian assistance, both through the supply of vaccines as well as food consignments, during and beyond the pandemic. As one example, we have despatched several shipments of humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan, including 33,000 MT of wheat of a total commitment of 50,000 MT by our Prime Minister, and continue to do so in the wake of the devastation caused by the earthquake a couple of days ago. During the pandemic, we have also provided food aid in the form of thousands of metric tons of wheat, rice, pulses and lentils to several countries around the world including Afghanistan, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Lebanon, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Myanmar, Sierra Leone, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, Zambia, Zimbabwe and others, to strengthen their food security.”

He highlighted that India has always taken the needs of the world into consideration, even while meeting the onerous obligations of feeding its population of 1.38 billion people. “It is important here to explain that the recent decision by the Government of India to bring about regulation on wheat exports was essentially taken to protect domestic availability as well as availability to vulnerable countries to whom supplies cannot be ensured by market forces,” he stressed. 

He said that India has nonetheless continued with its commitment to cater for the genuine needs of neighbouring countries and food-deficit nations through Government-to-Government mechanism and also to fulfil supply commitments already made. “In fact, last year, India shipped out about a record 7 million tons of wheat, while typically, we export around 2 million tons which is around 1% of global wheat trade. It is also worth noting that after the regulation until June 22^nd this fiscal year, 1.8 million tons of wheat have been shipped out, almost four times from the previous year to countries including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Israel, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Oman, Philippines, Qatar, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Switzerland, Thailand, UAE, Vietnam and Yemen,” Shri Pandey added.

He reiterated that the Government of India has acknowledged the efforts made by the UN Secretary General to enhance global food security, and also welcomed the recommendation of the Global Crisis Response Group Task Team to exempt purchases of food by the World Food Programme for humanitarian assistance from food export restrictions with immediate effect. “We have also highlighted that it is important that similar exemptions are provided to all member states and relevant stakeholders who are contributing to this global humanitarian effort,” he said.

He mentioned that the Covid pandemic has severely impacted global food security, which has been further exacerbated by recent geo-political developments and impact of climate change. The world is now faced with rising costs of three F’s - Food, Fertilizers and Fuel. The Global South, the developing and least developed countries, and the world’s most vulnerable, have been particularly impacted in a disproportionate manner.

Recent developments have highlighted the urgent need for developing resilient and uninterrupted food supply chains, so as to ensure both food security and nutritional security, in times of climate change induced natural calamities, global pandemics and conflicts around the world.

Shri Pandey said that at home, India is making a genuine effort to adopt a holistic approach to agriculture and make it more sustainable, including through effective water and soil management, and improving crop diversity and production practices. Digital technology is now playing an important role in empowering the farmers of India through crop assessment and digitization of land records. Post-harvest infrastructure has also been strengthened, including through the creation of an Agriculture Infrastructure Fund of Rs.1 trillion as well as the establishment of cold chain storage capacity of 35 million tons in recent years and a program for 12 million MT capacity for silo construction.  Sustainable food processing technologies are being adopted to reduce the overall carbon footprint, including through the adoption of waste utilization, resource recovery and circular economy in the food industry.

He thanked the Government of Germany for the opportunity for an exchange on topic of Food Security, and he look forward to continuing the discussions with the objective of ensuring food security for all in the world in pursuance of our collective commitment made under SDG – zero hunger by 2030.

****

AM/NS