Emphasis on linking farming with health, farmers to become partners in nutrition
CNN Central News and Networks / ITDC India ePress / ITDC News / Agencies, Bhopal:
Instead of seeing farming only as a means of producing grain and food, there is a need to make it an important foundation for human health and nutrition. Dr Mangi Lal Jat, Director General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research and Education, said the agricultural system must move beyond a production-centred model and be transformed into an agri-food system in which health, nutrition, soil quality and farmers’ income receive equal importance. He said food can work like medicine, and therefore agriculture must be viewed in the broader context of health.
Speaking at the Kisan Tak Bharat Agriculture Summit 2026 held in New Delhi, he stressed the need to establish a strong link between agriculture and public health. In this direction, ICAR has launched the ‘SEHAT’ programme, or Science Excellence for Health through Agriculture Transformation. Its objective is to connect agricultural research with people’s nutrition and health.
Dr Jat said soil health is the foundation of this change. Attention will have to be paid to challenges such as excessive use of fertilisers, decline in soil quality and climate change. He also underlined the need to make farmers active partners in agricultural research. According to him, more than 500 research-worthy problems have been received from farmers. By combining farmers’ experience with scientists’ research, solutions suited to local needs can be developed.
He said that after the Green Revolution, India’s foodgrain production has more than doubled, but the goal now should not only be to increase production, but also to develop nutritious food, better market linkages and strong value chains.
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