The Situation of Food Security in Pakistan

 Food safety deals with the state of having reliable access to enough accessible, nutritious food. The issue of food security is fundamentally a pressing social problem and has strong economic consequences. First, ensuring food security within the country can entail large fiscal costs as governments encourage the farm sector to ensure food self-sufficiency, as well as resorting to social security networks (including direct transfers) to keep poor people's purchasing powers intact. If food self-sufficiency is not achieved, the country must bear the cost of the balance of payments to ensure the availability of the food. And second, the situation regarding food security has strong ties to the state of human resources in the country. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that high levels of malnutrition will cost an economy about 3-4 percent of GDP. For Pakistan, estimates suggest poverty and its consequences cost the economy 3 percent (US$ 7.6 billion) of GDP each year. In particular, high rates of child mortality, prevalence of deficiencies in zinc and iodine, stunting, and anemia result in physical and mental development deficits that weaken labor productivity and the loss of future labor force in the country.

The Theory of Food Security 

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the concept of food security is flexible but is widely believed to exist 'when all people have physical, social and economic access to adequate, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life at all times.”

1. Major dimensions include:(i) Availability of food: Availability of adequate quantities and quality of food supplied through domestic production or imports (or aids).
2. Access to food: individuals have access / entitlement to adequate resources for the acquisition of suitable nutritious diets.
3. Stability: Population, household or individual should not risk losing access to food as a result of sudden shocks (such as climate crisis) or cyclical events (such as seasonal food shortages). In short, the concept of stability may refer to both the dimensions of availability and access.
4. Use: use of food through proper diet, clean water, sanitation and health care to achieve a nutritious well-being state where all physiological needs are met (this illustrates the value of non-food inputs in food safety)

Pakistan's Current State of Food Security

Pakistan is presently self-sustaining in major staples –ranked at 8thin manufacturing wheat, 10thin rice, 5thin sugarcane, and 4thin milk production. Despite that, only 63.1% of the country’s households are “food secure”, as per the Ministry of Health and Unicef’s l National Nutritional Survey 2018.

The survey incorporates the Food Insecurity Expertise Scale developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the world organization. the size trifurcates insecurity on the subsequent dimensions: delicate (worrying concerning the power to get food); moderate (compromising variety/quantity of food and sometimes skipping meals); and severe (experiencing hunger on a chronic basis). Alarmingly, of the 36.9% of the households in Pakistan tagged as “food insecure”, 18.3% face “severe” food insecurity. KP and Gilgit-Baltistan through provinces are comparatively more food-safe than Sindh and Baluchistan. In addition, the latest available FAO estimates suggest that the country is lagging behind the progress of low-middle-income countries in all four dimensions of food security with a per capita income of US$ 1,497, Pakistan is still struggling with issues such as under-nutrition, deficiencies in micronutrients (iron, calcium, vitamin A, etc.) and a deficit in safe drinking water. Consumption per capita of food products with a high nutritional value such as beef, chicken, fish, milk, vegetables, and fruit is nearly 6-10 times lower than that of developed countries.

Reasons Behind the Current Food Security Situation

Overall, the bleak state of food insecurity in Pakistan can mainly be attributed to the limited economic exposure of the poorest and most vulnerable to food chain disruptions

Part of this can be explained by the prevalence of poverty in the country: nearly a quarter of the total population of Pakistan lives below the poverty line (as set at Rs 3,030.3 per adult equivalent per month).

Which means that despite their salaries, about 50 million people in the country are unable to meet basic needs. Most of these people live in the country's rural areas where poverty rates is 30.7 per cent. According to a study by the World Bank, the prevalence of under 5 malnutrition levels (including stunting and waste) in Pakistan is 'significantly higher among poorer quintiles' of the distribution of expenditure.

Another factor that contributes to food insecurity in the country is the import-dependence for Another factor contributing to the country's food insecurity is the import-dependence for certain products, which is partly responsible for significant price fluctuations. In addition, the meat and dairy prices have steadily increased. By comparison, a broad physical and financial network of government-run commodity operations works within the country to enforce the support / indicative prices for major food crops (especially wheat) to ensure their availability. Though these transactions require a high fiscal expense, they have proven helpful in sustaining commodity stocks and stabilizing these commodities ' prices over the years. There were two big flaws in this strategy

This strategy had two major impacts that changed consumption habits, food imports grew steadily over the years, worsening the already strained balance of payments. Second, those food products ' domestic prices were driven by global trends. While the prices of major food crops (wheat, rice and sugar) have remained fairly constant over the years, the prices of small crops have shown substantial seasonal variations in recent years.

This, coupled with the fact that the country's bottom 60 percent of households spend a large portion of their income (average 45 percent) on food, has undermined their nutritional stability. It is also important to note that although prices are relatively low and stable, poorer families often lack the buying power to buy food. As with other developing countries, Pakistan must therefore also resort to in-kind and cash transfers in order to stabilize and raise the real income of the people. Sadly, the feasibility of these transitions has often been challenged because of problems of governance and poor delivery of services.

In the Coming Years, Pakistan May Not Even Sustain Basic Self-sufficiency

A country is considered healthy food if food is not only affordable, but also usable, nutritious and stable, regardless of origin. Although, countries are still making efforts to achieve food self-sufficiency (increasing production and imports, and constraining exports) to protect themselves from global food market volatility. Yes, self-sufficiency helps countries boost the dimensions of food security at least as regards supply and stability.

Pakistan, too, is providing support to its farm sector at various levels to encourage appropriate levels of production of major food crops (especially wheat and sugar cane). As mentioned earlier, while the country relies heavily on imports for certain food items such as edible oil, tea, and pulses, it is able to supply major staples alone. After research, it will show that if population increases at the current rate over the next few decades, sustaining even food self-sufficiency will become extremely challenging to Pakistan.

Land Extension is No Longer an Option

Between 1947-1980, Pakistan witnessed more than 65 per cent land extension when the most fertile land available was cultivated. There was no significant expansion of cropping area beyond this time.

In addition, the agricultural land available has faced destruction caused by water and wind erosion, soil fertility loss, deforestation, unsustainable livestock grazing, and water logging practices.

Water logging and salinity affect 11 and 5 million hectares in the region, respectively, according to latest estimates. Between 1947-1980, Pakistan witnessed more than 65 per cent land extension when the most fertile land available was cultivated.

In addition, the area affected by water erosion rose by 27.3 percent during the period 1998-2007, while wind-related deterioration increased by 17.4 percent during the same period. In addition, rapid urbanization often serves as an important factor in reducing the chances of land extension for farming purposes.

In the presence of current crop practices, water shortages and predicted climate change, significantly improving yields will be difficult. Focusing on yield improvements in the absence of land extension is the only solution to maintaining the country's agricultural production.

Protective Actions for Alimentary Security in Pakistan

The big concern is that the fiscal cost of ensuring food security – in the form of food subsidies, cash transfers through BISP, nutrition interventions system, school feeding / Tawana Pakistan – will gradually increase if the population continues to grow at a rapid pace.

In particular, limited (if any) attention has been paid to the local production of small crops and livestock products, such as pulses, fruits, vegetables, nuts and oilseeds, which not only contribute about 50% of the dietary resources, but also contribute significantly to food security.

In 2018, Pakistan's Ministry of National Food Security and Research declared and released a draft National Food Security Policy. This was seen as a major development when it comes to solving a significant issue. Policymakers have recognized that food security is a problem that needs immediate attention and have identified major challenges that need to be tackled, such as insufficient nutritional focus; supply-side constraints on agricultural inputs; sluggish technological diffusion; trade restrictions; land degradation; alarming water scarcity levels; and the imminent effect of agricultural inputs; The draft also emphasized the weak state of public sector investment in Pakistan's agricultural R&D compared to other countries, and the shortcomings of the authorities concerned in achieving the goal of modern farming.

As a result, the strategy sets out twenty separate qualitative and quantitative targets, ranging from 4% annual growth in the agricultural sector and poverty eradication, to achieving the zero hunger SDG and implementing provincial agricultural policies. Certain priorities contribute to improving the food safety regulations and the related trade regime.

The government needs to build upon that now. In addition, in the case of population growth and its long-term effect on food security, the strategy is not factoring. This is important given that the population of the world is expected to double at the current annual growth rate of 2.4 per cent over the next 25 years. With that, it would also intensify the importance of resolving food security issues commensurately.