With micronutrient deficiencies persisting, stakeholders call for biofortified seeds and nutrition-focused farming to enter the policy mainstream

As India’s agricultural and food policies mature beyond the challenge of basic availability, experts argue that the country now faces a more complex and consequential task: ensuring nutrient adequacy and diet quality for a growing population. While access to staple foods has improved markedly over the years, persistent deficiencies in iron, zinc, protein, and other micronutrients continue to affect large sections of the population, undermining immunity, productivity, and long-term health outcomes.

This evolving nutrition challenge is prompting renewed calls for a policy shift from yield-centric agriculture to outcome-driven nutrition security, particularly as discussions around Union Budget 2026 gather momentum. Stakeholders point out that addressing malnutrition solely through supplementation and healthcare interventions is both costly and reactive, and that agriculture itself offers a more sustainable, upstream solution.

Commenting on the policy direction, Prateek Rastogi, Co-founder & CEO of Better Nutrition, highlighted the need to build on last year’s agricultural investments by explicitly embedding nutrition into the country’s farming and seed systems.

“Last year’s Budget clearly recognised agriculture as India’s first growth engine, with strong investments in productivity, seed innovation, and sustainable farming. That foundation is critical. But India’s next leap must go beyond yield and move toward nutrition as an outcome.

Today, we don’t suffer from a lack of food. We suffer from a lack of nutrients in our food. As the government continues to invest in seed systems and farm innovation, the real opportunity in this Budget is to mainstream biofortified seeds and nutrition-focused agriculture as part of national policy. This would allow India to address iron, zinc and micronutrient deficiencies at the source, through everyday staples rather than costly downstream interventions.

Supporting startups and farmer networks that grow, test and process nutrient-rich crops will not only improve public health but also create a higher-value market for farmers through better price realisation and assured demand. A nutrition-led agricultural strategy can become one of India’s most powerful tools for long-term food security, healthcare savings and rural prosperity.”

Public health experts note that biofortification—enhancing the nutrient content of staple crops through breeding and agronomic practices—offers a scalable solution that aligns agricultural productivity with national health goals. Unlike supplementation programmes, which require continuous fiscal outlays and behavioural compliance, nutrition-rich staples deliver benefits passively and consistently through daily diets.

Industry observers argue that Budget 2026 presents a timely opportunity to institutionalise nutrition-sensitive agriculture, by supporting biofortified seed adoption, incentivising nutrient testing and traceability, and enabling market linkages for farmers producing higher-quality crops. Such measures could simultaneously reduce malnutrition-related healthcare costs, strengthen rural incomes, and reposition India as a global leader in nutrition-smart agriculture.

As India redefines food security for the next decade, stakeholders contend that nutrition—not just calories—must become the central metric of success, with agriculture policy serving as the foundation of a healthier, more productive society.

— Suchetana Choudhury (suchetana.choudhuri@agrospectrumindia.com)