Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic is adversely impacting food and nutrition security and requires urgent attention from policymakers. Sustainable intensification of agriculture is one strategy that attempts to increase food production without adversely impacting the environment, by shifting from water-intensive crops to other climate-resistant and nutritious crops. This paper focuses on the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh by studying the impact of shifting 20% of the area under paddy and cotton cultivation to other crops like millets and pulses. Using FAO’s CROPWAT model, along with monsoon forecasts and detailed agricultural data, we simulate the crop water requirements across the study area. We simulate a business-as-usual base case and compare it to multiple crop diversification strategies using various parameters—food, calories, protein production, as well as groundwater and energy consumption. Results from this study indicate that reduced paddy cultivation decreases groundwater and energy consumption by around 9–10%, and a calorie deficit between 4 and 8%—making up this calorie deficit requires a 20–30% improvement in the yields of millets and pulses. We also propose policy interventions to incentivize the cultivation of nutritious and climate-resistant crops as a sustainable strategy towards strengthening food and nutrition security while lowering the environmental footprint of food production.
Highlights
The disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic extend across the world and to all spheres of human activity
The this study indicate a minimum increase in yields of to make crop diversification a genuinely results from this study indicate a minimum increase in yields of 20–30% to make crop diversification a successful successful strategy for the sustainable intensification of agriculture
COVID-19pandemic pandemic agriculture may become evident in the onon agriculture may become evident in the the coming years, this study has attempted to quantify the potential impacts of diversifying crops coming years, this study has attempted to quantify the potential impacts of diversifying crops on on food nutritional security
Summary
The disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic extend across the world and to all spheres of human activity. As a result, emerging and developing nations are likely to see a negative growth rate in 2020 according to the World Economic Outlook, and in the case of India, the growth rate is estimated to be 1.9% [1]. The shortage of labor, followed by outward migration due to COVID-19, can be disruptive in the more impoverished regions of the world (e.g., developing nations like India), where small-holdings farmers typically do not rely extensively on farm mechanization. Labor-intensive crops, such as paddy, which is one of the staple food grains around the world, could be severely impacted, in India. Policymakers are planning to promote crops, Water 2020, 12, 2738; doi:10.3390/w12102738 www.mdpi.com/journal/water
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