Fighting hunger

In a world where one-third of the food produced for human consumption goes to waste annually, food insecurity should ideally not exist. After all, if we are producing more than the annual demand, no one should be left behind with an empty stomach. But the world we live in rests on a flawed structure which is more tilted towards those who have access to unlimited resources. This is a world where between 720 million and 811 million people face hunger. Countries have just observed World Food Day (Oct 16), a day that serves as a reminder for all countries to do better in correcting the sharp divides in their societies. In Pakistan alone, more than 10.5 million people are facing acute food insecurity. While the plight of the poor has always been deprived of any respite, the last few months have provided some horrific evidence of Pakistan’s sharp fall into the abyss of poverty and despair. In Ramazan this year, there were reports of people dying just in their quest for a sack of free flour. The effects of this hunger are also quite apparent now. In February, Pakistan’s parliamentary task force on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) highlighted that at least 42 per cent of children in the country suffered from stunted growth.

Pakistan is an agrarian economy where food production should not be a problem. But over the years, successive governments’ misplaced priorities have completely destroyed the sector. A country that used to export surplus wheat has now reached a point where it has to import essential food items, placing a strain on the country’s already scarce foreign exchange reserves. This was not a problem earlier, but supply chain disruptions caused by the Ukraine war have turned everything upside down. Whatever agricultural prospects were left in Pakistan are now under threat due to extreme climate events. Last year’s apocalyptic floods left one-third of the country under water, destroying vast areas of fertile lands and washing away crops.

On top of all this, Pakistan’s financial woes have made the government impose ‘harsh decisions’ that usually translate into imposing taxes on inelastic products. This makes it difficult for people with meagre resources to meet their food and nutritional needs. Policymakers in Pakistan have to work together to push the country out of this polycrisis. The first step should be to ensure food security. Work should start from the lower level; school meal programmes should be introduced in all provinces to ensure that at least children do not remain hungry. Then, the private sector should be encouraged to participate in CSR programmes by offering free meals to low-paid staff. There should be strict checks on restaurants and wedding halls, and those guilty of food waste should be penalized. Hunger is a stark example of a country’s crumbled governance system. Pakistan has the potential to become a food-secure nation; all it needs is a right push from those in charge of its governance. The government – whichever government comes in after the 2024 elections – will have to begin to provide answers for how it wants to manage food security. Does it wish to encourage domestic food production? Does it see Pakistan’s future as a major food importer? If so, how does it intend to raise enough money for Pakistan to become an importer of both food and oil? As it stands, we could easily see a major food shortage in the country at a time when people are barely already managing with scarce resources.