The Center for Fruitful India (CFI) promotes the production and consumption of fruits to improve health and livelihoods of low-income families, mitigate climate change and support environmental health.
It facilitates collaboration among stakeholders and financially supports research and development initiatives maximising the availability of diverse nutritious fruits.
The initiative was launched by The Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, which is funded by the Fruitful India Fund, and operates in collaboration with national partners.
The challenge
In India, 36% of women are underweight and 75% of new adolescent mothers are
anaemic.
Strengthening the local food system, which includes nutritious fruit species, will improve dietary diversity for enhanced food security – potentially improving the livelihoods of the 195 million people in India who are undernourished – as well as supporting biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation.
Agrobiodiversity has declined rapidly over the last 50 years and in India there is limited cultivation of indigenous
and underutilised fruit species.
Whereas common fruit species like banana, mango and pineapple make up 75% of the total fruit cultivation area. Championing India’s diverse indigenous fruits can boost fruit diversity conservation and improve nutrition security in rural communities.
Climate change jeopardises food security and threatens sustainable fruit production for small and marginal farmers, especially on farms with low genetic diversity.
Resilient, diverse fruit tree-based farming systems can contribute to improved food security and mitigate the impacts of climate change through carbon sequestration.
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