We must make progress towards achieving Millennium Development Goal No 1 (MDG-I). The uneven progress made in ac­hieving the desired reduction in hunger and poverty provides an opportunity for understanding both the causes and cures for the prevailing unacceptable levels of hunger. So­uth Asia and Sub-Saharan Af­rica continue to remain areas of concern. Methods of managing price volatility have been outlined in the recent reports prepared by committees set up by G-20 and the steering committee of the high level panel of experts HLPE of the Committee on Food Security (CFS).

Climate change has some common but several differentiated impacts on crop yields in different parts of the world. For example, cereal yields will go down both in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, if the mean temperature rises by

2o Celsius. On the other hand, the yield of cereals will go up in the Northern latitudes due to a longer growing season. Proactive measures are needed both for maximising the benefits of a good crop season and for minimising the adverse impact of changes in mean temperature, precipitation and sea level. We should lose no further time in developing and introducing strategies for enhancing small farm productivity, profitability and sustainability, and for reducing the adverse impacts of price volatility and climate change.

Available data show that in countries like Ghana and Brazil, where there has been a convergence of political will, professional skill and people’s participation, progress in ach­ieving UN MDGs has been fast. The youth revolution in North Africa as well as “the land grab” tendencies in Africa and elsewhere have many lessons for policy makers engaged in implementing programmes relating to MDG-I. We should not spend much time in developing targets post-2015. Instead, we should concentrate on accelerating progress in achieving the already agreed targets.

Women suffer from a multiple burden on their time. Wo­men farmers need gender-specific support services like crèches and daycare centres as well as access to land, credit, technology, extension and market. There are several programmes on gender, food security and nutrition. What is needed is convergence and synergy amo­ng all related and gender-relevant programmes, on a “deliver as one” appr­oach. Women far­mers, with the technical advice of home science colleges, can help to mainstream nutritional considerations in cropping and farming system research.

Poverty is the central issue in relation to hunger and deprivation. Agriculture is the solution, since a vast majority of the rural families depend on agriculture and allied activities for their livelihood and income security. Technology is the prime mover of change. We need technologies that can transform the lives and livelihoods of small farmers. A pro-nature, pro-small farmer and pro-women orientation is necessary in technology development and dissemination. The poor are poor because they have no assets like land, irrigation water, cattle, fishpond or market-driven skills in the areas of agro-processing and agri-business.

While global and national thinking and plans can provide a broad framework for action, only local-level planning and implementation can ensure that the action plan is socially relevant, implementable, repli­cable and affordable.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has to be congratulated for getting food and agriculture a prominent place in the Rio+20 agenda, particularly in the context of sustainable development, pove­rty reduction and climate ch­ange management. At the moment, the agenda is titled towards environmental issues and there is inadequate understanding of the multiple role of agriculture in human security and well-being. The FAO sh­ould emphasise the need for accelerated progress in eliminating hunger and poverty. Rio+20 provides an uncommon opportunity for harmonising agricultural progress with environmental issues.

The FAO should spread the message and methods of green agriculture and evergreen fa­rm revolution. Conservation and climate-resilient farming is essential for achieving an evergreen revolution. It should st­rive to bring about a change in the mindset with reference to the relationships between food and ecological security, thus fostering an understanding of the feedback linkages between agricultural progress and nature conservation. The FAO should work with agricultural universities worldwide on mai­nstreaming nutritional considerations in the design of cropping and farming systems research.

The International Congress of Nutrition, scheduled to be held at the FAO in November 2012, provides an opportunity for articulating the public policies needed for achieving nutritional security, such as gre­ater attention to pregnant wo­men and infants (during the first 1,000 days in a child’s life), financial support to nursing mothers for enabling them to feed the baby at least for the first six months, holistic approach to nutrition, involving concurrent attention to balanced diets, clean drinking wa­ter, sanitation and primary he­alth care. Drinking water security is an essential component of nutrition security.

The mid-day meal progr­amme in schools provides an opportunity for ensuring nutrition security to children. Education and nutrition are the two legs of a human being. Agriculture is becoming an unpopular career choice, due to apprehensions in relation to job opportunities. The FAO should do ev­erything possible to make agriculture a popular career choice, since agriculture alone is capable of promoting job-led economic growth. Jobless economic growth is joyless growth.

(The writer is an agricultural scientist who led India’s green revolution)