Assessment of Agricultural Sustainability in Changing Scenarios

Agricultural sustainability is an important parameter for policy design. The primary variables for agricultural sustainability, like available arable land and water, depend on competing demands from other sectors as well as natural factors like climate change. The other critical factor that determines sustainability is demand, which changes with population and dietary habits. The supply also depends on external sources (import); thus a comprehensive and quantitative assessment of sustainability is a major scientific challenge. Here we present an assessment of agricultural sustainability for India. Import requirement, potential surplus and sustainability index are used to estimate India's food sustainability.