Agriculture diversification for food, nutrition, livelihood and environmental security: Challenges and opportunities

World food production is expected to be doubled by 2050. India and China, the most densely populated countries of the world will require to maintain atleast 4–5% annual growth rate in agriculture to keep pace with the growing population and to sustain world food security. For example, India supports about 17% of human and 11% of livestock population of the world just on 2.8% land and 4.2% of water resources. As per recent estimates, India will need to produce about 281 mt food grains, 53.7 mt oilseeds, 22 mt pulses, 127 mt vegetables and 86 mt fruits by 2020–21. The country will have to produce more quality food with diminishing natural resource base and changing climate. The issues of current concern to national food, nutritional and environmental security include: diversion of agricultural land for non-agricultural use, decreasing land holding size, declining profit margin in agriculture, depletion of ground water, deteriorating soil health and biodiversity, increased frequency of climate related risks such as cyclones/tsunami, drought and floods, cold and heat waves etc; contamination of soil and water with heavy metals like arsenic, selenium and fluoride and their cycling in plant-animal-human-atmosphere chain. Ever increasing concentration of green house gases in the atmosphere resulting in global warming is likely to have serious repercussions for human beings, animals, plants, microbes and environment. As per National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), 40% farmers want to quit agriculture and the young generation is no more interested in farming profession. Major shift in terms of diversification of agriculture into crops, commodities, enterprises, cropping/farming systems is called upon to revert the process of degradation of natural resources, rejuvenations of waste lands and also to make agriculture a profitable business.