Summaries of Group Discussion-Reassessing Agri-Food Systems for Sustaining Nutritional Food Security: Evidence, Imperative and Way Forward

I feel privileged to present before this august gathering the Chairperson's report of the above theme, on the concluding day of the 83rd annual conference of the Indian Society of Agricultural Economics.I thank the office bearers and members of the association for giving me the honour of chairing a session on this very important theme.A total of 35 papers were reviewed and recommended for publication in the journal, 3 in full length and 32 in summary form.Out of 35 papers, 14 papers were presented, and active discussions took place during the sessions in this conference.The paper contributors to this theme and deliberations during the Conference have provided rich insights through their observations, assessments, data generation and analysis, covering a wide range of issues on the transformation of the agri-food system towards sustainable and nutritional security.Out of the discussions, I would like to draw your attention to salient issues and recommendations emerging from the theme.A.The stage was set by the very first paper, which provided valuable insights into the research landscape of agri-food systems and nutritional security by examining areas of research using the Systematic review method.The progression of research themes on nutritional security has emerged as per the global and national priorities.In the first time segment (2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010), there was a global emphasis on food security in Asian and African countries with little attention on nutritional security.Subsequently, most popular research themes (2010-2019) focused on gender, dietary diversity, breeding, etc, became prominent in global literature.The recent time slice 2020-2023 witnessed global challenges posed by climate change, nutrient management, abiotic stress, Covid 19 pandemic, and biofortification to address nutritional security.However, certain areas are under-represented but emerge as important, like the effect of income distribution and its variation on food system transformation, food programs like PDS and its impacts, and intra-household food security etc.B.A considerable amount of research focus & discussions were made on millets, including minor millets, addressing issues related to production growth, profitability, price stability, including strategies to enhance their production share.Undoubtedly, Millets are of paramount importance due to their exceptional nutritional value, climate resilience, and sustainability.Their economic potential and role in diversifying diets make them a vital component of global efforts to address nutrition, environmental, and food security challenges.Though, millet is recognized for its