India, which has a large number of small farming families, has decided to back the Mexican Government's move to focus on small farm holders issue at the G-20 Summit, sources said.
The issue of boosting productivity in small family farms is likely to figure at the G20 leaders summit in Mexico later this month.
Mexico, which is heading the G-20 Presidency is trying for a consensus on the need for specific initiatives that can help boost productivity with emphasis on small farm holders. Sources indicated that India will oppose any move on diverting foodgrains to produce fuel. “Our first priority is food,” a senior Government official said.
The typical small farm holders suffer from yield gap owing to lack of access to technological inputs, investments and markets among others. As these small famers account for a large chunk of land holdings, especially in developing countries, it is important to focus on improving their productivity to boost global agriculture output.
Providing access to technology and funding to these farmers is seen as a big challenge considering their small holdings. In such a scenario, there is need to come up with innovative solutions like adopting a cluster approach among others to make such operations sustainable, sources said.
In the run-up to the G-20 leaders meet, the Agriculture Deputy Ministers met recently and discussed the actions taken on containing food price volatility and the role that international trade can play in improving food security and output.
The Ministers have called for an action plan to boost global food production through increased co-operation.
Such action plan assumes significance as global population is set to exceed 9.3 billion by 2050 and the global agricultural output would have to increase by 50-70 per cent over the same period. In developing countries food production has to grow by about 100 per cent. They also felt the need to align the application and management of public policies to coordinate policy actions to ensure the population's right to food.
This apart, food security, transfer of technology to improve output through increased international co-operation and promotion of investments in farm sector through public-private partnerships are other key issues that may find a mention at the summit's final declaration.