R. K. Vyas

Dr. R. N. Bhagat

Abstract

Nearly a billion people go hungry every day, unable to access the food they needfor energy and growth. Several billion people suffer from nutrition deficiencies because they don't get the right food. Hunger and poor nutrition have severe and sometimes fatal consequences for people's health, especially for women and children. In India, more than 65 million go hungry every day. A population 50 times bigger than Australia goes hungry every day two-thirds of them live in Asia and the pacific. In 2007-08, the world saw dramatic increases in food and commodity prices creating a global crisis that led to economic instability and social unrest in both developing and developed countries. Drought in grain producing nations like Australia and China and rising oil prices caused initial price hikes. The lack of basicfood staples sparked riots in some countries while some Governments banned food exports in response. Boosting agricultural development is essentialfor achievingfood security. Without an increase in food production, efforts to make the poorestfood secure willfail. Since Land and Water resources are the most limiting resources, the optimum utilization of both resources will be required to meet every growing demand in India. A paradigm shift in the thinking of all stake holders including farmers is essential while using available land andwater resources. Every liter of water and every acre ofland counts for achieving our goal of more crops per drop ofwater.Large scale use of advance irrigation technology has to be adoptedforthe benefit offarmers with the sole objective of conserving water and improving agricultural productivity. Besides this, large tract of marginal land, follow land and sandy areas have to be converted into "green oasis" in the deserts with the use of advanced Agricultural Engineering Technologies. Countries like Saudi Arabia, Israel, Libya, Tunisia, and Australia have achieved excellent results by growing varieties of food grains and other cash crops by using poor quality water. Indian farmers should also take calculated risk of moving from traditional crops to cash crops which requires less water. A beginning has already been made in Gujarat. However, farmers of Arid and semi Arid areas of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh will do well if they change their cropping pattern, keeping in mind typе of soil and availability of water. Global food security is intimately linked to the ability of agricultural systems to produce more food. Government organizations and NGOs should help farmers infinding ways to improve yields, reduce post-harvest losses and enhance the ability ofsmallholder farmers to adopt new technologiesfor improving their financial health. The nextgreen revolution is possible only through adoption of appropriate agriculture engineering technologies & practices.

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