Tata-Cornell Institute publications
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The Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI) is a long-term, multidisciplinary research initiative focused on creating and assessing innovative, food systems-based approaches to improving nutrition and livelihoods in India and other developing countries. With a diverse team of researchers and graduate students, TCI blends high-quality academic research, field-based projects, and policy analysis to generate and share knowledge relevant to policymakers, research institutions, and development agencies.
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Item Aggregation Models and Small Farm Commercialization: An Annotated Bibliography of Relevant LiteratureTata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition, 2022-11-11)Smallholder aggregation models around the globe have the potential to contribute significantly to agricultural growth and productivity by facilitating improved access to credit, inputs, markets, and information. Aggregation models, including farmer producer organizations (FPOs) and cooperatives, are institutional arrangements by which small and marginal farmers, disadvantaged by low economies of scale, form formal and informal groups to jointly access factor and output markets. These arrangements can be bottom-up initiatives that emerge within the community of smallholder farmers or top-down initiatives initiated by the government or a promoting organization. The Tata–Cornell Institute (TCI) published a scoping review of relevant literature in Food Policy in 2022, synthesizing studies of smallholder aggregation models and analyzing welfare gains, particularly those deriving from enabling commercialization. The review aimed to identify any research gaps in the existing literature, study the reemergence of farmer aggregation models, and contribute to the taxonomy of farmer aggregation models at the global level. The scoping review includes 244 studies, which span over 50 countries on five continents. Among the 244 studies, 87 studies were chosen for a more extensive analysis and included as annotated bibliographies. The TCI research team used annotated bibliographies to dive deeper into the existing literature and consolidate the relevant findings from each study. A total of 87 annotated bibliographies were included in the research. The purpose of these annotated bibliographies was to identify research of high relevance in studying aggregation models, consolidate and highlight the main issues and relevant findings from each study, and take stock of the existing evidence of aggregation models enabling commercialization. For each paper, the annotated bibliography summarizes the authors’ information, the research and its setting, the research question, methods utilized for carrying out the research, main findings, and the study’s strengths and weaknesses. The annotated bibliography is descriptive and critical, outlining the authors’ viewpoints and their relevance to the literature.Item Technological Interventions in Indian Food Systems and the Future of Food SecurityAbraham, Mathew; Pingali, Prabhu (2022-08-24)With India on track to become the world’s most populous country by 2030, agricultural technology will play a vital role in ensuring that the country meets its future food security needs. Technological Interventions in Indian Food Systems and the Future of Food Security assesses the challenges facing Indian food systems in the 21st century, from seed production to retail, and introduces the technological interventions that can potentially address them. The report has four core sections. Section one centers on the challenges of India’s approach to improving genetic gains through crop breeding. Section two focuses on farm management practices, information communication technologies, and sustainable intensification. Section three examines food loss and waste and explores how technology can reduce loss by improving storage and transportation facilities. Section four investigates how new platforms and technology can improve smallholder market participation.Item Food, Agriculture, and Nutrition in Bihar: Getting to Zero HungerTata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition, 2022-01-14)TCI’s 2022 report on Food, Agriculture, and Nutrition in Bihar (FAN-Bihar) provides a detailed reassessment of the food system approach for achieving the 2nd Sustainable Development Goal (SDG2) — zero hunger by 2030 — in Bihar. The report emphasizes the high rates of malnutrition in the state and highlights the urgent need to address the chronic burden of undernutrition. The report focuses on key elements of the food system to address malnutrition: enhanced food production and availability, crop diversification, improved market linkages, gender empowerment, and improved nutrition behavior.Item Pandemic Prices: COVID-19 Price Shocks and Their Implications for Nutrition Security in IndiaTata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition, 2020-07-16)In Pandemic Prices: Price Shocks from COVID-19 and Their Implications on Nutrition Security in India, TCI researchers assess the impact that India’s COVID-19 lockdown had on Indian food prices. They demonstrate that the lockdown disrupted the supply chains for some foods more than others, driving up prices and potentially changing Indian diets for the worse. In the report, researchers analyze the weekly average price of cereal grains, vegetables, pulses, and eggs in 11 Indian cities from March 1 to May 31, 2020, comparing them to 2019 and the weeks before the lockdown was instituted. While cereal grain prices remained relatively stable, the price of vegetables, pulses, and eggs increased. Since the lockdown was lifted, vegetable and egg prices have stabilized, but the price of pulses remains elevated.Item Food, Agriculture, and Nutrition in India 2020: Leveraging Agriculture to Achieve Zero HungerTata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition, 2020-07-14)TCI’s 2020 report on Food, Agriculture, and Nutrition in India (FAN 2020) provides an analysis of India’s progress towards achieving the second sustainable development goal—zero hunger. Using district-level data and maps, the report highlights stark spatial differences in the extent of the hunger problem and identifies potential paths forward. The report provides a detailed assessment of the prospects for improving productivity and farm incomes across India’s highly varied agroecologies and cropping systems. It emphasizes the need for continued high-level investments in agricultural infrastructure and research to sustain past gains and exploit new opportunities for growth. FAN 2020 calls for reorienting agricultural policy away from its traditional focus on staples, such as rice and wheat, and toward enhancing the productivity and supply of coarse cereals, pulses, fruits, vegetables, and livestock products.