Health
How India’s Agrarian Crisis Is Making Nutritious Food Unaffordable
India’s agrarian crisis is reducing farmer incomes while making healthy diets increasingly expensive. Here’s why India’s food system needs urgent reform.
India’s agrarian crisis is shrinking farmer incomes while driving up the cost of healthy diets, exposing deep flaws in the country’s food system and nutrition security.
When the figures are carefully unpacked, one thing becomes unmistakable: Indian agriculture is passing through a deep and prolonged crisis. The sector is no longer a reliable source of income, and government support has not reached farmers in the measure needed to restore profitability. The farmer who, a few decades ago, owned his own soil is today gradually turning into a daily-wage labourer. Of a farming family’s total monthly earnings, barely one-third now comes directly from agriculture; the remaining share, nearly two-thirds, has to be made up through government or private jobs, wage labour, or small enterprises. In other words, farming alone is no longer enough to run a household.
How India’s Agrarian Crisis Is Making Nutritious Food Unaffordable
What is more worrying is that, even as the sector remains under pressure, the number of new entrants is rising rather than falling — and most are joining not as landowning farmers but as farm labourers. As landholdings are divided into smaller and smaller fragments, income from farming declines rapidly, forcing families to depend increasingly on non-agricultural sources to survive. This is reflected in suicide statistics too: of the total agricultural suicides recorded in 2023, the latest year for which the National Crime Records Bureau has released data, more than half — at least 56.5 per cent — were of farm labourers. This is not a sudden trend; it has been consistent for years. Of the 10,786 farm-sector suicides recorded that year, 4,690 were landowning farmers or cultivators, while 6,096 were farm labourers — that is, workers who own no land in their name, hold no crop insurance cover, and have no support to fall back on if the season fails. It is precisely this group of daily-wage workers that has today moved to the very centre of the agrarian crisis.
A survey by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) paints a similarly stark picture: over the past five years, nearly 30 per cent of farming families reported crop losses caused by untimely rain, pest and disease attacks, cyclones or drought, and 12 per cent suffered unexpected drops in market prices. Faced with these shocks, families were left with only two options — exhaust their savings or borrow from moneylenders. The reality is so stark that, per NABARD’s All India Rural Financial Inclusion Survey (NAFIS) 2021-22, covering the five-year window from 2016-17 to 2021-22, the average farming household is left with a monthly surplus of just ₹1,951 after covering its expenses — and it is precisely out of this gap that the cycle of debt is born.
The average debt on a farming household stood at ₹91,231, marginally higher than the ₹89,074 average for non-farming households. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Food Processing has said the situation demands close monitoring and precisely targeted interventions, so that farmers can sustainably bear the burden of their debt while continuing to invest in agriculture. The committee stated that the department concerned must ensure farmers do not get trapped in an unbearable cycle of debt, and that the schemes designed for them actually deliver benefits on the ground.
And this crisis will not stop here. A powerful super El Niño is taking shape, and weather experts fear it may disrupt the coming monsoon. Farmers already entering the new season in loss, and under the weight of debt, have little capacity left to absorb another shock. In this new era of shifting climate, providing farmers with a coherent, far-sighted policy framework is not a lofty demand — it is the bare minimum.
The Rising Cost of Nutrition
The crisis in the fields echoes directly in urban kitchens, and today the sharpest edge of inflation is falling on the ordinary person’s plate. In India, a nutritious and balanced diet is becoming more expensive every year, moving further out of reach for crores of families. According to the UN’s latest report, The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2026, the per capita cost of a healthy diet in India has risen by more than 48 per cent since 2017. The minimum cost of a daily balanced diet for an average Indian, which stood at $2.77 (PPP) in 2017, reached $4.11 in 2025 — a rise of roughly 34 per cent compared to 2021, when the figure for India stood at $3.07 (PPP). Purchasing power parity (PPP) does not depend on currency exchange rates alone; it also accounts for local prices of goods and services in a given country, and so more truly reflects the burden falling on an ordinary person’s pocket.
The average global per capita cost of a healthy diet has risen from $2.94 (PPP) in 2017 to $4.28 in 2025, an increase of nearly 46 per cent
This rise in prices hits poor and economically weaker families hardest, because the moment prices rise, it is nutrient-rich foods such as fruits, vegetables, milk and eggs that first begin disappearing from their plates. If a healthy diet continues to remain this expensive, the path to a balanced diet will become even harder for families already struggling with malnutrition. According to the definition set by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), a diet can be called healthy only when it simultaneously provides the body with sufficient energy, essential nutrients, variety and balance — mere fullness of the stomach is not the criterion.
The global picture is not very different. The average global per capita cost of a healthy diet has risen from $2.94 (PPP) in 2017 to $4.28 in 2025, an increase of nearly 46 per cent. The situation among India’s South Asian neighbours is even more severe than India’s own. In Bhutan, this cost has reached $6.17, a rise of 49 per cent compared to 2017. In Bangladesh it stands at $4.59 with a 48.5 per cent rise, in Sri Lanka at $5.21 with a 35 per cent rise, in Pakistan at nearly $3.94 with roughly a 33 per cent rise, and in Nepal at $4.19 with a 26 per cent rise. In other words, India’s cost is higher than Pakistan’s but lower than Nepal’s, Bangladesh’s, Sri Lanka’s and Bhutan’s. Yet it must not be forgotten that in a country with as vast a population as India, even a small rise in cost can have a massive impact on the plates of millions upon crores of households.
There is, however, one reassuring point: the number of people worldwide unable to afford a healthy diet has declined from 297 crore (37.4 per cent) in 2021 to 269 crore (32.7 per cent) in 2025. Even so, nearly one in every three people in the world today still cannot afford the cost of nutritious food, and it is the African continent that is scorched worst in this regard, where 66.6 per cent of the population finds a healthy diet beyond reach.
It is also worth understanding exactly where the larger share of the cost goes. The greatest expense falls on fruits, vegetables, milk, eggs, meat and other fresh and animal-based foods, while grains such as rice and wheat remain comparatively cheap. It is precisely during the journey from farm to consumer — through processing, transport, storage, cold chains and wholesale distribution — that the bulk of the cost gets added. As much as 70 to 75 per cent of the total amount a consumer pays for their diet is spent purely within this middle chain. The result is that the farmer does not receive adequate reward for his labour, and the consumer too does not get produce at a fair price — both sides end up at a loss.
Taking the example of poor households in India, staple grains such as rice and wheat are easily available through government schemes or subsidised markets. But the prices of pulses, green vegetables, fruits and milk — the very foods that give the body real strength and immunity — have risen so much that they are slipping beyond the monthly budget of an ordinary family. The outcome is that even as malnutrition and anaemia persist in the country on one hand, the inability to afford nutritious food is growing on the other. This makes one thing entirely clear: merely supplying grain is not enough; the real test lies in delivering nutrient-rich components such as fruits, vegetables, pulses, milk and eggs to every plate at affordable rates. For this, irrigation, cold chains, research, food processing and the supply chain will all need to be strengthened, while also curbing the wastage of food.
The FAO has issued one more warning in its report: that tensions in the Strait of Hormuz and an effective El Niño persisting until the end of 2026 could together place additional strain on global food and fertiliser prices in the period ahead. According to the organisation’s Chief Economist, Máximo Torero Cullen, the real crisis facing the world is not a shortage of food but the rising cost of nutritious diets, and that boosting local production could bring this cost down significantly.
It must be kept in mind that if nutritious food keeps slipping beyond the reach of the ordinary person, the consequences will not remain confined to hunger alone — they will cast their shadow over children’s growth, women’s health, working capacity and the country’s overall economic productivity. This malnutrition will keep hollowing out bodies from within, generation after generation. Therefore, the goal before India can no longer remain limited merely to “food for all”; it must become “nutritious food for all.” Local production, a strengthened supply system and nutrition-centred policies have today become the greatest need of the hour.
The suicide of a farmer in the field and the vanishing nutrition from a child’s plate — these two events may appear separate on the surface, but their roots lie buried in the same systemic failure
Vanishing Diversity on Children’s Plates
It is said that the habits that take root on a child’s plate in early childhood go on to shape the direction of health for an entire lifetime. Yet today, essential components such as fruits, vegetables, pulses and dry fruits are gradually vanishing from the plates of crores of children across the world. This reality has come to light through an extensive study conducted by researchers at Tufts University and published in the journal BMJ Global Health. Analysing data from more than 1,200 dietary surveys conducted across 185 countries between 1990 and 2018, the study assessed the consumption, among children and adolescents from birth to nineteen years of age, of five plant-based food groups: fruits, non-starchy vegetables, starchy vegetables, pulses, and nuts and seeds. According to the researchers, these components are important not only for physical growth but equally for learning ability, mental agility and protection from many diseases later in life, and yet most children are eating far fewer fruits and vegetables than experts recommend.
The suicide of a farmer in the field and the vanishing nutrition from a child’s plate — these two events may appear separate on the surface, but their roots lie buried in the same systemic failure. The farmer does not get a fair return for his sweat, and the consumer does not get the nutrition he needs on his plate, and it is the chain standing between these two ends that keeps reaping the greatest profit. As long as this imbalance within the chain remains uncorrected, this cyclical curse will keep returning every year in a new form — sometimes in the shape of a farmer in the field, and sometimes in the shape of a malnourished child.
(The views and interpretations presented are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of EdPublica.)
Health
FSSAI Moves to Restrict Added Sugars in Infant Foods, Citing Need for Stronger Nutritional Safeguards
FSSAI has proposed restricting the addition of sucrose and fructose to infant foods for babies up to six months. The draft amendment aims to strengthen nutritional safeguards.
The first months of life leave little room for nutritional guesswork. An infant’s food must supply the energy and nutrients needed for growth, making the composition of commercial infant nutrition products a matter of public health. Whether manufacturers need to add particular sugars to these products is therefore an important regulatory question.
Research published in recent years has begun examining how added sugars enter infants’ diets, including through formula milk, and whether early exposure is associated with subsequent eating patterns and weight gain. Although the evidence does not establish that added sucrose or fructose in infant formula directly causes obesity, it has raised questions about the nutritional value of adding sugars when alternative carbohydrate sources are available.
Against this backdrop, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has proposed prohibiting the addition of sucrose and fructose to food products intended for infants up to six months of age. The draft amendment, published in the Gazette of India on 16 October 2026, would tighten the existing rules governing the composition of these products.
Early Exposure to Added Sugars
An Indian study published in the Indian Journal of Community Medicine in 2021 examined the sugar and salt content of 114 commercially available infant formulas and baby foods. The researchers found that around 28% of the products had a high-sugar profile, while approximately 51% listed sugar or related ingredients among their first four ingredients.
The study covered products intended for children aged up to 24 months, including infant formulas and complementary foods. Its findings offer evidence that sugar content warrants scrutiny in India’s infant and young-child food market. However, the assessment relied on product labels and did not establish whether the products caused adverse health outcomes. It also did not demonstrate that infant formulas intended specifically for babies under six months routinely contained added sucrose or fructose.
Research elsewhere has examined possible links between added sugars in infant formula and early growth. A 2025 study published in The Journal of Nutrition followed 234 infants from predominantly low-income households in the United States. Researchers assessed dietary intake at six, nine and 12 months and found an association between higher added-sugar intake from formula and higher weight-for-length scores.
For every additional 10 grams of added sugar consumed daily through formula, weight-for-length scores increased by an average of 0.060. The study was observational, so it cannot establish that sugar caused the difference. Its findings also cannot be directly generalised to Indian infants.
A separate study published in Frontiers in Nutrition in 2023 examined dietary data from 95 infants and toddlers aged nine to under 16 months. It found an association between added sugars consumed through infant formula and sugar-sweetened beverage consumption later in infancy. The researchers did not establish a significant association between formula-derived added sugars and added-sugar intake from table foods. The small sample and cross-sectional design limit the conclusions that can be drawn.
These studies examine different aspects of early sugar exposure: the composition of products available in India, associations with infant weight and possible links with later dietary patterns. None establishes that the proposed restriction will prevent childhood obesity. They do, however, provide grounds for examining whether particular sugars need to be added to products intended for very young infants.
Infant’s Food: Why the First Six Months Matter
The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF recommend exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months of life, followed by the introduction of appropriate complementary foods at around six months while breastfeeding continues.
For infants who require an alternative to breast milk, appropriately formulated infant formula can provide essential nutrition. Its carbohydrate composition must meet nutritional requirements for growth and development. The question for regulators is whether adding particular sugars serves a necessary nutritional purpose in products designed for this age group.
WHO’s 2023 guideline on complementary feeding recommends that children aged six to 23 months should not consume foods high in sugar, salt and trans fats. Its evidence review identified associations between sugar-sweetened beverage consumption during infancy and later obesity in some studies, although the certainty of the evidence was low. The recommendation concerns the broader diet of children aged six months and older; it does not specifically establish the effects of sucrose or fructose in infant formula.
The distinction between naturally occurring sugars and added sugars is equally important. Milk naturally contains lactose, which provides energy. Sucrose and fructose may instead be introduced as ingredients during product formulation. Their use needs to be assessed against the nutritional requirements of the intended age group.
What the FSSAI Amendment Proposes
Under the Food Safety and Standards (Foods for Infant Nutrition) Regulations, 2020, lactose and glucose polymers are the preferred carbohydrate sources in infant nutrition products. The existing rules permit sucrose and/or fructose when required as a carbohydrate source, subject to prescribed limits.
The draft Food Safety and Standards (Foods for Infant Nutrition) Amendment Regulations, 2026, proposes prohibiting the addition of sucrose and fructose to products intended for infants up to six months of age. This would remove the existing allowance for these two sugars in products for this age group. FSSAI has invited objections and suggestions from stakeholders within 60 days from the date on which copies of the relevant Gazette notification are made available to the public. The submissions will be considered before the amendment is finalised.
Health
NMC Directs Medical Colleges to Set Up Patient Safety Committees
The National Medical Commission has directed medical colleges and medical institutions to establish patient safety committees, designate nodal officers and strengthen procedures to prevent avoidable harm.
Health
World Food Day: India’s Childhood Obesity Burden Raises Concerns Over Diabetes Risk
More than 41 million Indian children and adolescents aged 5–19 were living with overweight or obesity in 2025, according to the World Obesity Atlas 2026. The growing burden raises concerns about long-term health risks, including type 2 diabetes, and highlights the need for healthier food environments, better nutrition and stronger school-based interventions.
With more than 41 million Indian children and adolescents living with overweight or obesity, experts warn that unhealthy food environments could increase future risks of type 2 diabetes. New national guidance on childhood diabetes and proposed restrictions on junk food sales near schools highlight the need for preventive action.
As the world observes World Food Day on October 16, childhood nutrition is emerging as a challenge that extends beyond hunger and undernutrition. The growing prevalence of overweight and obesity among children is raising concerns about their long-term health, including their risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
India faces a particularly significant challenge. The World Obesity Atlas 2026 estimates that approximately 14.9 million children aged five to nine and 26.4 million children and adolescents aged 10–19 in India were living with overweight or obesity in 2025. Together, these figures amount to more than 41 million young people.
The report also estimates that around 1.39 million Indian children aged five to 19 had hyperglycaemia attributable to high body mass index in 2025. Hyperglycaemia refers to elevated blood glucose levels and is a health indicator associated with metabolic risk; it should not be interpreted as a count of children diagnosed with diabetes.
The figures highlight the importance of addressing childhood obesity early, before associated health risks become more difficult to manage.
Food environments and the risk of early-onset diabetes
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported in September 2026 that 400 million children and adolescents aged five to 19 worldwide were overweight in 2024, including 170 million living with obesity. The prevalence of overweight in this age group increased from 8% in 1990 to 20% in 2024.
Childhood obesity is influenced by a combination of biological, social, economic and environmental factors. Diets high in energy but low in essential nutrients, limited opportunities for physical activity and the easy availability of heavily marketed processed foods can contribute to unhealthy weight gain.
Obesity can increase insulin resistance, in which the body’s cells respond less effectively to insulin. This can raise the risk of type 2 diabetes, a condition that is increasingly important to consider in children and adolescents.
However, the relationship between food and diabetes requires an important distinction. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition in which the body’s immune system attacks insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. It is not caused by eating sugary foods or being overweight. Type 2 diabetes develops through different mechanisms and is associated with factors including excess body weight, genetics and physical inactivity.
The two conditions require different approaches to prevention and treatment.
India introduces a national childhood diabetes framework
In a significant policy development, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare released a comprehensive guidance document on diabetes mellitus in children on May 3, 2026.
Diabetic checkup.Representational image.Image credit:Pexels
The framework outlines a structured approach to screening, diagnosis, treatment and long-term management, linking community-level identification with district hospitals and medical colleges. It also provides for free-of-cost care at public health facilities, including insulin therapy, blood glucose monitoring supplies and follow-up services.
The guidance promotes awareness of the early warning signs of type 1 diabetes through the “4Ts”: Toilet, Thirsty, Tired and Thinner. These refer to frequent urination, excessive thirst, unusual tiredness and unexplained weight loss.
The initiative is important because timely diagnosis and access to insulin can be lifesaving for children with type 1 diabetes. It also highlights the need for health systems to identify and manage diabetes before complications develop.
Schools become a focus of food policy
India is also considering measures to improve the food environments surrounding schools. A Reuters report published on September 24, 2026, said the country was moving towards restrictions on the sale of foods high in fat, salt and sugar within a 50-metre radius of schools.
The proposed measures would affect vendors and shops selling products such as sugary drinks and packaged snacks near educational institutions. The proposal reflects growing concern about the availability of unhealthy foods in places where children spend much of their day.
If implemented effectively, school-focused measures could form part of a wider strategy that includes healthier school meals, accessible drinking water, nutrition education, physical activity and clearer food labelling.
However, restrictions alone cannot address the problem. Families also need affordable access to fruits, vegetables, pulses and other nutritious foods. Public-health measures must account for household budgets and the realities of food access in different communities.
Beyond calories
World Food Day 2026, themed “Innovate today. Nourish tomorrow,” offers an opportunity to reconsider what food security means for children. Access to sufficient calories is essential, but the nutritional quality of food also matters.
Reducing the future burden of type 2 diabetes requires action across healthcare, education, food policy and community environments. At the same time, children living with type 1 diabetes need timely diagnosis, uninterrupted insulin supplies and long-term medical support
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