A global food survey Wednesday raveled that due to high food prices in Pakistan most people do not always have enough food to eat each day.
According to Oxfam’s fresh food survey, people across the world are changing what they eat because of the rising cost of food.
The public opinion poll was conducted in 17 countries including, Pakistan,
India, Australia, Brazil, Germany, Ghana, Guatemala, Kenya, Mexico,
Netherlands, Philippines, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Tanzania, UK and
United States.
Globally, 54 per cent of overall respondents surveyed said they were not eating the same food as they did two years ago – the period before the current food price crisis began. In Pakistan that figure stood at 57 per cent.
In Pakistan, 44 per cent of those who said their diet had changed blamed the rising price of food; while 32 per cent cited health reasons.
In Pakistan, only 45 per cent of people surveyed said they always had enough food to eat on a daily basis. Cost was by far the biggest food worry with over half (51 per cent) of respondents in Pakistan citing it as one of their top concerns. Twenty-eight per cent of people surveyed in Pakistan said they were concerned about the availability of food, whilst 19 per cent of people said that the healthiness or nutritional value of the food they ate was also a key concern.
This response reflects the current price hike of basic food items in Pakistan, which is running into double digit figures. In June, the Government’s Federal Bureau of Statistics reported that food and beverage prices in May had increased by 15.88 per cent as compared to the same period last year; while the price of perishable food items increased by 17.85 per cent.
