President Asif Ali Zardari called upon the Ministry of National Food Security and Research (MNFSR) to urgently chalk out a comprehensive national food security policy to further promote and develop the agricultural sector, and to create a conducive environment for the facilitation of farmers and their associations.
In a message on the occasion of World Food Day on October 16, the president said that the right to food for the people of Pakistan was enshrined in the constitution and the government feels duty bound to honour this fundamental right. The president said, “I am confident that we will rise to the challenge of food security not only in Pakistan but also in other food deficient countries in the region to achieve the goal of food security for all”.
He said that on the World Food Day, there was a need to reiterate the commitment to create greater awareness about the importance of developing agriculture to ensure food security for a rapidly growing population.
Referring to the theme of the day “Agricultural cooperatives – key to feeding the world” the president said that it had rightly pointed out the important role agricultural cooperatives and small farmers could play in improving food security and eradicating hunger and under nourishment. He said that agriculture in Pakistan was beset with many challenges, these included stagnancy in produce, water shortage, adverse impacts of erratic climatic changes, natural disasters land degradation.
“We need to minimize post-harvest losses, increase value addition and the search for new markets so that the food was not wasted and growers were benefited,” said the president. He said that there was a great need for employing state-of-the-art technology to reduce input costs.
The president said that facilitation of the farming community, especially medium and small farmers and the promotion of agricultural cooperatives was another area that needed urgent attention.
He said that the government had accorded the highest priority to agriculture and facilitated the farmers’ community.
The president said that from supply of seeds to the provision of easy loans, to significantly increase procurement prices of agricultural products, the government had been offering numerous incentives to motivate formers to grow more food and create more job opportunities.
He said, “Our farming community deserves to be commended for demonstrating great resilience in withstanding the devastating impact of recurring natural disasters”.
The president said that despite suffering huge losses as a result of unprecedented floods the country had exportable surplus wheat. However there was a need to do a lot more to realize the true potential of the agricultural sector.
HRCP raises alarm over rising food scarcity
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) on Monday expressed alarm over rising food scarcity in Pakistan and its impact on the people, especially those below the poverty line.
In a statement issued on the eve of World Food Day, HRCP said: “There is unmistakable evidence of growing food scarcity in Pakistan and the consequent rise in prices has gravely affected access to food and nutrition not just for the poor but also for the large middle-income segment of the population. The lack of attention to this critical issue is no less dangerous and frightening than the food scarcity itself.
The problems associated with food scarcity in Pakistan have not come about overnight; they are structural and have links with issues of land holdings, tenants’ rights, shortages of essential inputs, especially water, and the technical, educational and financial capacity of the farming community. Successive governments have been exceptionally unimaginative in addressing food scarcity in Pakistan. The usual response to shortage of edibles has been to import the same. The increase in support price for the main crops has led to a rise in the price of commodities and taken them farther away from the reach of the poor. The steep rise in the cost of food is forcing even middle income families to divert the sums they earlier spent on health and education to put food on the table.” HRCP urged the government to take up this issue on priority.