TODAY is World Food Day; a day commemorated each year to call for an end to world hunger. This year’s theme — “Our Actions are our Future; A Zero Hunger World by 2030 is possible” — reminds us of the need to ensure that everyone has access to safe, affordable and nutritious food at all times to live a healthy, happy life.

According to the 2018 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report, there has been a rise in world hunger for the third year in a row. The absolute number of undernourished people (ie those facing chronic food deprivation) has increased to nearly 821 million in 2017, from around 804m in 2016. These are levels from almost a decade ago. Pakistan in 2015-17 had a ‘prevalence of undernourishment’ (also one of the indicators of SDG 2) in the total population of 20.5 per cent. This has barely improved since 2004-06, when it was 23.3pc, and has actually risen since 2014-16, when it was 19.9pc, reflecting a worldwide trend of increasing hunger. This means the number of undernourished people in Pakistan increased from 35.5m to 39.5m (three year average).

On the 2017 IFPRI Global Hunger Index, Pakistan ranked at 106 among 119 countries, with a score of 32.6. This level is described as ‘serious’, and is on a par with Afghanistan, which ranked 107. In comparison, Bangladesh was ranked 88 and India was ranked 100.

Food security is a fundamental element of poverty alleviation. However, achieving food security is a necessary but not sufficient condition to prevent malnutrition and ensure adequate nutrition for all. Understanding the pathways from inadequate food access to malnutrition is important. When there is an uncertain access to nutritious, safe and varied food for a household or an individual, that household or individual is ‘food insecure’.

How can we achieve zero hunger in Pakistan?

Food insecurity can cause child wasting, stunting and micronutrient deficiencies; both directly through compromised diets and indirectly through impact on infant feeding. Recurrent infections and disease are serious contributing factors to wasting and stunting in children. Nutritional knowledge and food habits, as well as improved sanitation, may play a role by moderating the effects of household food insecurity on diet, health, and nutritional outcomes.

The link between food insecurity and obesity also passes through diet, which is affected by the cost of food. Nutritious, fresh foods often tend to be expensive. Thus, when household resources for food become scarce, people choose less expensive foods that are often high in caloric density and low in nutrients. The negative effect of food insecurity on diet quality has been documented in low, middle and high-income countries alike, particularly in urban settings.

So what should be done? There is need for implementing and scaling up interventions aimed at guaranteeing sustainable production and access to nutritious foods, breaking the intergenerational cycle of malnutrition perpetuated by undernourished girls becoming undernourished mothers, at risk of giving birth to infants with low birth weights. Any action plan or policy implementation must pay special attention to the food security and nutrition of infants and children under five, school-age children, adolescent girls and women.

The first National Food Security Policy and Water Policy provide the framework for action, putting emphasis on agriculture diversification and value addition, resilient climate-smart agriculture and water management, improved livelihoods of small-holder farmers and tenants, safe drinking water and a National Zero Hunger Programme.

The key pillars of a Zero Hunger Programme are school-feeding prog­­­­rammes combined with educational modules on nutrition, hygiene, food preparation, and homestead kitchen gardens in rural and peri-urban areas; conditional income support targeting women in the most vulnerable households; knowledge, technology and asset creation (such as quality seeds, modern irrigation systems, processing equipment) and market linkages. Further pillars such as nutritional supplements, essential basic services would also be required in the most vulnerable and poor areas. Close inter-ministerial and cross-sectoral coordination among the ministries of food security, water, health and climate change, and a strong alliance with civil society, is also needed.

Zero hunger is a definitive call for a transformation of the rural economy (where the majority of the poor are), of food systems, coupled with a change in the diets of households and individuals.

What can you do to help? You can start by looking at what you eat in one day and compare that with the Pakistan Dietary Guidelines for your age group to check if there is anything you should change; seeing how much food and water goes wasted in a day in your home and what you can do to reduce it; buying directly from small-holder farmers; and advocating for zero hunger in Pakistan.

The writer is the FAO Representative in Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2018