WEARY years of experience have taught Pakistanis that there is often a huge gap between the good intentions of the government of the day and its ability to mobilise the political will required to actually produce tangible improvements on the ground.

For this reason, while the establishment of a federal-level National Food Security Commission must be welcomed, we must also stress on the need for it to truly prove its mettle over the coming months and years. Headed by the prime minister and with a federal minister as the deputy chairman, the plan to set up such a commission was announced as part of the 2014-15 budget.

As reported, the commission has well-defined areas to work on: from getting the centre, the provinces and the administrative regions to agree on a policy for food security, to directing resources for the development of agriculture, strengthening the export infrastructure, and ensuring sufficient nourishment for vulnerable segments.

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As in other areas of devolution, in the case of agriculture too, it seems that the centre and the provinces have not been able to coordinate — paving the way for hunger and malnutrition for large sections of the population.

It is to be fervently hoped that this commission proves of more value than others of a similar nature that have been seen over the decades.

The fact of the matter is that despite being a country with agriculture as the base of its economy, there are legions of poor that do not have enough food. Indeed, surveys have shown that around 60pc of the country’s population could be food insecure with women and children bearing the brunt.

From food scarcity to the rising prices of edibles, and from malnutrition to outright hunger, Pakistan desperately needs to address its food security issues, to say nothing of updating and making more productive the agricultural sector which continues to depend on outmoded practices that do not have ideal cost-benefit ratios.

The problems are many and critical; will the commission prove itself up to the task?

Published in Dawn, December 27th, 2014