MULTAN City News

BZU conference for setting up food council

From Our Correspondent

MULTAN: Speakers at an international conference have urged the government to set up the Pakistan Food and Nutrition Council on the pattern of the PMDC and the PEC to harmonise degree programmes in food and nutrition across the country.

BZU Vice-Chancellor Dr Tahir Amin chaired the concluding session of a two-day international conference organised by the BZU’s Institute of Food and Nutrition. The conference recommended that the national institute of nutrition might be established at the federal level with branches in all provinces. The conference also recommended that a centre of excellence for food and nutrition must be established at the BZU Institute of Food Sciences and Nutrition. It also recommended that the Health Department must induct nutritionists in hospitals at the tehsil level. It urged the international development partners and donor organisations in the field of nutrition like FAQ, WFP, UNICEF, UNIDO, GAIN and WHO to help in capacity building in the field of nutrition education. The conference recommended that the National Disaster Management Authority and the Ministry of Climate Change should focus on collaborative efforts with the provincial agriculture departments to design policies to promote climate and disaster resilient crops and compensate farmers in case of any natural calamity. In order to mitigate ill effects of widely prevalent malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies among different segments of the population, concerted efforts, commitment, financial resources and government patronage was required, the conference participants added. They said that the school feeding programme recently announced in some districts must be spread across the country. Moreover, the programme should focus on nutrient requirements to control nutritional deficiencies, they added. They said that the agriculture policies should be designed on the basis of increasing access and quality rather than production. They said that it was necessary to reduce post-harvest losses through training of farmers and other stakeholders.