Effective planning vital for food security: experts

LAHORE: Public institutions, development agencies, investors, researchers and producers would have to work together to maintain social stability and to build a growth propelling food sector, experts said on Wednesday.
An immaculate planning for food security is vital for Pakistan, as its population is destined to reach 350 million from the current 190 million after two decades, they said.
The need for wheat, rice and other edibles would almost double by 2035, the experts said, adding, with constant increase in the middle class, the demand for meat and other animal proteins would also increase.
With continuous increase in global population, the prices of food grains have increased exponentially since 2006 after remaining stable for 25 years from 1980-2006, they said.
According to UN statistics, the price index of beef that was 100 in 1980, rice, wheat and corn remained almost at the same level in 2006, as well.
The experts said rice price index has jumped from 100 in 1980 to 150, beef from 100 to 148, wheat from 205 and corn from 100 to 280.
With the global population destined to reach nine billion by 2050, the global food requirements would increase by over 60 percent, they said.
Pakistan would have to exploit its agricultural production to fulfill its domestic demands, as importing food grains would be very expensive.
“We cannot afford short-term or halfhearted approaches towards agriculture,” said Hamid Malhi, a progressive farmer.
He said it is futile to go for subsidies, food and cash transfers when the potential to grow food is unlimited in Pakistan.
“You need to streamline your policies and implement them in fair and transparent manner,” he added.
There is a need to develop a vibrant food economy, which ensures efficient agricultural production, Malhi said, adding, this could be achieved through innovative technologies and best production and harvesting practices.
He said the trade and investment approaches should be tailored in a manner that benefit the farmers. Domestic agricultural markets should be revamped and to make them efficient the role of middleman should be eliminated, he said.
At the same time, he said, the state should maintain strategic food and water reserves.
Another farmer Mian Obaidullah said there are numerous countries that produce 10 times more corn, two times more rice and wheat per hectare and three times more beef per animal.
“We need a strategy that strengthens the entire food economy,” he said, adding a realistic agricultural strategy discourages cultivation of crops that do not suit the local environment.
Sugarcane, he said, is one such crop where Pakistan cannot achieve the global productivity, as it is the crop that grows in tropics.
To be effective, the agricultural policies should facilitate end-to-end value-chain development. It should ensure not only promoting the right inputs, but also encourage creative business models to enable low-interest financing and risk sharing, he added.
Market analyst Amina Usman said the government should formulate an international trade and investment strategy that can help hedge against volatility and food shortages.
This would also spur economic growth, she said, adding, the ease of import and export of agricultural commodities is one way of integrating agriculture with the global trade.
Pakistan could become a hub for Halal food processing just like Singapore that has to import and process food products and earns huge foreign exchange from the value-added exports, she said.
“We might not have to import any food as chicken, meat, beef and fruits are abundantly available in Pakistan,” she said, adding the Pakistan government simply has to ensure that all food safety standards the importers require are practiced by the food processors.
She regretted domestic market is not efficient in Pakistan, the route from farm to table is long, complex, and subject to disruption. She said each bottleneck to market is an implicit tax on farmer and consumers.
She said despite throwing 35 million acres feet of water in sea, the planners in Pakistan have failed to construct a single large water reservoir in the last 40 years. Pakistan, she said, is now classified among water starved country.
Inadequate storage facilities result in massive food waste and poorly timed or unpredictable usage of food reserves has skew prices in the past, she added.