Borlaugh Institute for South Asia: CIMMYT is uniquely positioned to tackle the challenges in India

Abstract

Over the next decades, food security and economic development in South Asia and India will be increasingly and most drastically affected by the negative impacts of climate change, rapidly fal ling ground water tables lack of land, population growth, and changing diets. Already now, only 14 countries in the world rank lower than India on food security and none of these has as big of a population or economy. The average person in rural India spends 50% of their income on food while maize, rice and wheat prices are predicted to more than double again within the next 20 years. As a result, food and energy-price related inflation will be greater that income increases of the rural and urban poor, pushing large numbers of people back into poverty. The urgency and magnitude of these issues require different approaches to finding sustainable solution for ensuring food security for the poor in South Asia, preventing large-scale social unrest, and sustaining an agricultural sector that supports economic development and climate change adaptation.