‘Food insecurity greater threat to GDP growth than energy crisis’

LAHORE: The government should declare food emergency, as food insecurity and widespread malnutrition reduce human resource, which is a greater threat to GDP growth compared to the energy crisis.
This was the consensus of a discussion on Tuesday regarding the roles of different sectors and the society in addressing this menace. The participants included representatives of Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (Gain), World Food Programme (WFP), Unicef, Punjab government, academia, and media.
The programme was chaired by Punjab Assembly member Saira Iftikhar, who said that a strategy should be prepared in which the role of each sector is identified and existing gaps plugged. “We produce enough food in the country, but the diet that the lower strata of society take, lack essential micronutrients vital for healthy growth.” She said food fortification is the best way to ensure uptake of micronutrients.
Speaking of cost, Saira said that though the cost of food fortification is not very high, we have been looking at the donors to provide the micronutrients in different foods.
“The international donors have played their role by supporting certain fortification initiatives for years,” Saira said, adding we cannot expect them to continue permanently. She said there are two ways to address this issue. First is that the government boots the cost of fortification and the second, to make the system market based.
Saira said that the private sector could be asked to fortify different foods as a part of their corporate social responsibility. Cost of fortifying wheat flour with iron and folic acid with wheat flour is Rs8 per 20 kilogram. She said a 20kg wheat flour bag costs Rs720-800. An addition of Rs8 in the price, she added, is bearable for the poorest consumers.
She said even if the provincial government bears the cost of iron fortification, it will have to allocate Rs400 million for this purpose for 95 million people of Punjab (based on allocation of 100kg per person per year, which translates into Rs40 per person per year). She said similarly, all other provinces could cumulatively spare Rs400 per year to fortify food.
Punjab government nutritional expert Dr Bhatti said that iron deficiency is taxing the health of 51 percent women in Pakistan, who are suffering from anaemia. He said with fortification of wheat flour, the menace of anaemia in women and children would be addressed.
Munawar representing Gain pointed out that salt iodisation was a Pakistani success story. However, he said iodisation of salt is under threat as the iodine supplement was up till now provided by a donor. After successful completion of the programme, the donor has withdrawn the free supply of iodine. He said the cost of fortifying salt with iodine is only 25 paisas, which is nominal when compared with Rs16 per kg charged by retailers for iodized salt. He said even if we assume that a person consumes four kilogram salt a year, the cost for iodisation per person would be only Rs1.
Munawar said that the Punjab government could bear the cost of Rs10 million for 10 million people, to ensure sustained availability of iodised salt. Alternatively, he added private sector salt manufacturers may be asked to charge consumers an additional 25 paisa per kg for iodised salt.
All the participants agreed unanimously that the government should amend the law, and make fortification in different foods mandatory. They said regulatory watch should be ensured on food manufacturers and those defying food laws should be severely punished. They said current laws for food adulteration or other violations were too soft and not acting as a deterrent for the unscrupulous.
A representative of Punjab government revealed that in the national nutrition survey of 2001, stunting in children was 32 percent that increased to 39 percent when the last survey was conducted in 2011. Similarly, he added the incidence of underweight children increased from 24 percent to 29.8 percent, while wasting increased from 12 to 14 percent.