Bhubaneswar: Odisha has been facing a unique challenge in the area of food security affecting children which calls for urgent action, civil society leader Jagadananda said Wednesday. He was speaking at the inaugural function of a national symposium on ‘Artificial Intelligence and the Right to Food: Advancing Agriculture for a Better Future and a Better Life’ organised at the Institute of Agricultural Sciences (IAS), Faculty of Agricultural Sciences of Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan Deemed to be University here. Referring to Odisha’s over-dependence on rain-fed agriculture, he said only around 30 per cent of the agricultural area was under irrigation. The need is to focus on climate-resilient agriculture as there is a link between water management and food security, he said.
Central Horticultural Experiment Station principal scientist and head Govinda Chandra Acharya referred to the recent report of the Global Hunger Index (GHI) of 2024 which has placed India at the 105th position saying it called for urgent action for the promotion of food production and improvement in the quality of agriculture. Concerted efforts are necessary to attain the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of food security by 2030, he said. SOA vice-chancellor Pradipta Kumar Nanda said the challenge to attain the SDG goal was huge as India was the most populous country and the resources were limited.
