The Safety of Our Food Supply is at Risk.

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 This year, Pakistan was placed 92nd out of 116 countries in the Global Hunger Index (GHI). The country's hunger level is classified as'serious' with a score of 24.7. On a regional basis, Pakistan is better positioned than India (ranked 101), whereas Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, two near regional neighbours, rank 76 and 65, respectively, and outshine Pakistan.

GHI aims to mobilise global action in the fight against hunger. Undernourishment, child wasting, child stunting, and the under-five mortality rate are among the four indicators included in the index. While 37.6% of children are stunted, Pakistan has reduced the proportion of the population that is undernourished to 12.9 percent from 21.1 percent in 2000. Pakistan has also succeeded in reducing the percentage prevalence of wasting in under-five children from 14.1 percent in 2000 to 7.1 percent in 2020.

"As the year 2030 approaches, achievement of the world's commitment to Zero Hunger seems painfully distant," says the report, co-authored by Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe. Furthermore, current forecasts show that the world as a whole — and 47 nations in particular — would fail to achieve even low hunger levels by 2030, according to the report. Furthermore, according to the global study on food crises-2021, food crises will grow more prevalent and severe, with a grim forecast for 2021. The World Food Programme estimates that 41 million people are on the verge of starvation.

 Food security is under threat from a variety of sources, including rising wars, catastrophic weather occurrences as a result of global climate change, and the economic and health difficulties posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. More than a paucity of food on the market is at the root of food insecurity. It also suggests a lack of financial resources to purchase food, let alone nutritional and wholesome foods.

Pakistan's double-digit food price inflation, along with falling income, has left more Pakistanis food insecure during the last three years. According to the World Food Programme (WFP), roughly 43 percent of Pakistanis are food insecure, with 18 percent experiencing acute food insecurity. The World Food Programme claims that the "biggest impediment to getting a nutritious diet" is price, predicting that the majority of Pakistanis cannot buy nutritionally appropriate food.

Thus, increasing food supply is insufficient to eradicate hunger and undernutrition; ensuring that people have access to healthy and safe meals is just as important, if not more so, if universal food security and the prevalent concern of stunting and wasting among children are to be addressed.

Our economic and financial policies have only served to worsen social and economic imbalances while also increasing the number of people who are hungry. To avert future food shortages, the government must work to increase the value chain of fruit and vegetable products while simultaneously assuring storage capacity. To reduce the destructive consequences of natural catastrophes on food security, the government must promote crop diversity, water management, and climate-smart farming. For the country's food security, prioritising agricultural value addition and retaining subsidies for vital commodities is also critical.



 

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