ISLAMABAD: About 15-16pc of the population of Pakistan is affected by food insecurity and the situation has worsened due to the recent floods and the pandemic.

This was stated by Farrukh Toirov, the deputy representative of Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) while speaking at a seminar on ‘Poverty Eradication and Food Security’ organised by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) on Monday.

He said: “9.5 acres of agricultural land across the country has been inundated by flood water and government statistics show that about 4.5 million acres of the crops have incurred extensive damage.”

He drew the attention of authorities towards the lower wheat yield in 2022 and said that 3 to 5 million tons of wheat was harvested, but the floods caused damage to it, therefore, wheat insecurity is expected to rise.

He said that the scale of food insecurity and the poverty crisis is beyond the control of the government and called for strong cooperation between government, international partners, academia, and think-tanks to reach comprehensive policy solutions.

“The nation’s dignity should not be comprised when Pakistan may seek international support for flood victims and survivors,” this was stated by SDPI’s Executive Director Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri. He further said that at least 8 million people have been displaced in recent floods and only 600,000 could get camps to live therein while the rest are staying under the open sky.

“The displaced people have lost their shelters and livelihoods and are highly vulnerable to one-time meal and diseases,” he said, adding that children need nutritious food and vaccination, as the risk of various diseases is increasing day by day.

He said that the world is confronted with difficult times and recent reports of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund warn, “We are in a perfect storm; poverty is rising with the onset of Covid-19 and further amplified by the triple-C crisis confronting the world.”

Chris Kaye, the country director of the World Food Programme, said there is no dignity without food and food is fundamental for a healthy and prosperous society and it depends upon capitalising agricultural production capacity of the country.

He said that 345 million people in 82 countries were faced with food insecurity and the number was 282 million at the beginning of 2022 and was 135 million before Covid-19. He added that the number of people vulnerable to famine-like situations has increased 10 times in the past five years and 4 million people are in phase IV of the famine in Pakistan, which is an alarming situation.

Shoaib Sultan Khan, the chairman of the Rural Support Programme Network suggested that social mobilisation is central to poverty alleviation.

He stressed on designing poverty eradication programmes and interventions based on comprehensive consultations with real beneficiaries and stakeholders.

He emphasised on community development and engaging with women to build their capacity as this approach has demonstrated promising results.

Irshad Khan Abbasi, the head of innovation and integration, Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) said that Pakistan is the 92nd country on the Global Hunger Index (GH). He informed participants that the poverty ratio in Pakistan had declined from 57pc to 24.3pc in 2015 and has increased to 35.7pc recently.

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2022