Immediate and short-term interventions proposed to mitigate impact of current economic crisis on food and nutritional security

Agriculture currently occupies around 40% of the land and consumes over 80% of the fresh water resources of the country. There are about two million farmers, who account for 25% of the workforce of the country; yet, they contribute only around 6% of the GDP, which shows the low productivity of both land and labour and the poor value addition in agriculture. According to the last census of agriculture (2002), of the 3.3 million land holdings, 45% were less than 0.1 ha (quarter of an acre) and over 90% of the production units were less than 2 ha (5 acres). The situation may have been further exacerbated since, owing to fragmentation. Read more (Linked with the article published on "The Island" newspaper 23^rd June by NSF)