Challenges and Opportunities in Achieving Food Security in Northeast India

Agriculture plays a crucial role in food security, food production and environmental sustainability which are some of the significant challenges to human civilization. The exponential growth of the human population leads to the overexploitation of resources and has emerged as a hindrance to food security. India has overtaken China and become the most populated country in the world with 1.42 billion people, and the population growth rate of Northeast India (NEI) was 17.40% during 2001–2011 with a population of 45 million people. This emerged as a significant challenge in achieving food security in the entire region. Furthermore, due to climate change, temporal and spatial changes in temperature and rainfall had already struck this region. These changes have contributed to the emergence of various pests and diseases, significantly impacting agricultural productivity. Nevertheless, one potential solution to address these issues lies in the adoption of traditional integrated farming systems. In addition, focusing and integrating different multipurpose plants into different agroforestry systems also could help in more production of food. Moreover, strategic management of livestock, and creating and focusing on different market opportunities could also help in the sustainable achievement of food security in this region. Hence, this chapter aims to synthesize the diverse challenges and opportunities associated with achieving food security in Northeast India.