The United Arab Emirates (UAE), a nation that traditionally relies on global markets for its food security, is now prioritising two main objectives: food access and readiness for supply chain crises. India, being the second-largest food producer in the world, plays a vital role in the UAE’s endeavour to fortify food security. These two nations find multiple potential areas of convergence in their food security partnership.
India’s Role
India wields a dominant position as an international agricultural export powerhouse, owing to its vast cultivable land, favorable climate, and burgeoning food production and processing sector. Besides its considerable production capabilities, India has also been involved in providing food aid to developing countries, demonstrating its commitment to regional and global food security.
Investments have been made by India in food parks and modern supply chain management to reap the benefits of bilateral trade agreements. This shows India’s ambition to excel in the global food market. The government operates the world’s largest food subsidy program, the Public Distribution System, which provides affordable grains to nearly 800 million Indian citizens, ensuring access to daily meals.
In addition to this, India has launched ‘POSHAN Abhiyaan’, the world’s largest nutrition program for children and women, underlining the importance of nutrition in food security.
The UAE’s Contributions
The UAE has pledged a USD 2 billion investment towards the creation of food parks in India, declared at the I2U2 Summit 2022. In the context of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), the UAE has established a food security corridor, thereby increasing India’s presence on the global food value chain.
Moreover, the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre has initiated Agriota. It is an agri-trading platform aiming to connect Indian farmers to the UAE’s food ecosystem and enabling them to access Emirati markets directly.
Significance of the Partnership
The strategic location of the UAE can act as a gateway for Indian food exports to West Asia and Africa. This not only secures and diversifies India’s food reserves, but it also creates non-agrarian jobs in the UAE’s private sector projects, providing better prices for Indian farmers’ produce.
During India’s G-20 presidency, it has the opportunity to display successful strategies and models for food security in the Global South. These pathways can be enhanced by strengthening trade relations with the UAE, creating a sustainable, inclusive, efficient, and resilient future of food.
Major Challenges to Global Food Security
The United Nations cites climate change and extreme weather events as the key drivers behind increasing food insecurity worldwide. Temperature increases, weather variability, invasive crops and pests, and more frequent extreme weather events have damaging effects on farming – they cause agricultural yield to diminish, weaken the nutritional quality of farm produce, and reduce farmer incomes.
Globalisation, although it has opened up agricultural commerce, cannot guarantee stable market pricing. The absence of remunerative prices for end goods, distressed sales, high cultivation costs, and unfair market prices pose substantial barriers to food security.
Trade disruptions, caused by geopolitical tensions and trade disagreements, can lead to sanctions, embargoes, and tariffs, which can adversely affect food trade, impacting food prices and availability. Countries dependent on food imports may face food shortages and increased food prices, making food less accessible for vulnerable populations.
Way Forward
Investments in climate change adaptation and mitigation measures, such as water management, soil conservation, and climate-smart technologies, can help reduce the impact of climate change on food production and security. Governments should incentivise the production of water- and nutrient-efficient crops and announce a lucrative Minimum Support Price and input subsidies for farmers. “International Year of Millets”, declared by the United Nations General Assembly at its 75th session in 2023, is a significant step in this direction.
India can support other developing nations in Africa and Asia through technology partnerships, joint research in promoting drought-resistant crops, and advocating climate-smart agriculture, thereby establishing itself as an influential actor in the Global South.
