Food insecurity

I was shocked to read the ‘International Food Security Assessment 2021-31’ by the United States Department of Agriculture. I was shocked to find out that 38 percent of Pakistan’s population is ‘food insecure’. In Nepal, 13.6 percent of the population is food insecure; Sri Lanka 19.4 percent, Bangladesh 25.7 percent and India 25.8 percent. Imagine: 38 percent of Pakistan’s population is food insecure – that’s 90.7 million Pakistanis. Aren't we an ‘agricultural country’?

The United States Department of Agriculture defines food insecurity as: “Limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways.” The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations defines food insecurity as: “A person is food insecure when they lack regular access to enough safe and nutritious food for normal growth and development and an active and healthy life.”

In much simpler terms, a person is ‘food insecure’ if s/he is unable to reach a caloric target of 2,100 kilocalories per day. Imagine: 90.7 million Pakistanis are unable to reach a caloric target of 2,100 kilocalories per day.

Shockingly, of the five countries – Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Nepal – Pakistan has the largest ‘food gap’ (food gap is defined as the amount of food needed for all food insecure to reach the caloric target of 2,100 kcal/day). The food gap in Pakistan stands at 389; Bangladesh 300; India 289; Sri Lanka 258; and Nepal 255. In essence, the food gap indicates the ‘intensity of food security’. Shockingly, of the five countries – Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Nepal – the intensity of food security is the highest in Pakistan.

According to Unicef, “In Pakistan, 38 percent of the children under five years of age are stunted. With one of the highest prevalence in the world, stunting is a rising emergency in the country. The situation is particularly worse in Sindh, where it has affected approximately 50 percent of the children – and the number is increasing.”

Imagine: 38 percent of Pakistani children under five years of age are stunted – meaning their height-for-age is below World Health Organisation’s ‘Child Growth Standards’. Question: Why are so many Pakistani children stunted? Answer: Lack of food.

Imagine: the burden of ‘wasting’ in Pakistani children under five years of age is at 17.7 percent (wasting is defined as low weight-for-height). Shockingly, 6.7 million Pakistani children under the age of five suffer from wasting. Question: Why is the burden of wasting in Pakistani children so high? Answer: Acute malnutrition (this according to Unicef).

Food insecurity has two dimensions: availability and affordability. Over the past three years, Pakistan’s double digit food price inflation in tandem with declining incomes has made more and more Pakistanis food insecure – from an affordability perspective. Poverty, food insecurity, malnutrition, frequent infections, ill health, mortality, hidden hunger and crime are all closely related to each other.

Food insecurity is the real issue. Stunting of children is the issue. And what do we have on the table: Biden’s telephone call; who won in Kashmir; who won in Sialkot; Nawaz Sharif’s visa; the PTI taking over Sindh; our tourism potential; and rising car sales.

The writer is a columnist based in Islamabad.

Email: farrukh15@hotmail.com Twitter: @saleemfarrukh