The findings of a recent study report on "Food Insecurity in Asia" released by the Asian Development Bank affirm what is a well-known but a deeply disturbing fact, that Pakistan faces chronic food insecurity. An estimated 43 percent people lack purchasing power to buy nutritional food, even access to it. The worst affected are people living in rural areas and mountainous hinterlands. The report points out that at the national level, since the early 1990s, the average dietary energy supply adequacy (ADESA) is over 100 percent. Fat supply is also largely satisfactory, though availability of protein is low but not too short of the required level. Yet the incidence of hunger and malnourishment is alarmingly high. That would be unacceptable anywhere, all the more so in a food crops growing country, where more than half of the population is under 25 years of age. Lack of basic nutritional food means a large section of the young people fail to fully attain physical and mental growth, and hence are not only unable to improve the quality of life for themselves and their families but also to make a worthwhile contribution to the national endeavour for progress and development.

Not surprising, the report says the major factors causing food insecurity in Pakistan are pervasive poverty, corruption and poor governance - all inter-related. Environmental pollution and degradation are an additional challenge. Although the government has been claiming to have put the country on the road to prosperity, facts on the ground do not match those claims. The agricultural and industrial sectors show no progress because there has been no significant policy initiative to increase productivity in either sector. Regarding agriculture, the mainstay of the economy, the report notes, there has been a shortfall of investment in agriculture infrastructure as well as research and development, leading to limited innovation in the sector. Meanwhile, antiquated farming and irrigation methods continue to cause unnecessary wastages. Further endangering future food security is water scarcity, which threatens to disrupt agricultural activity unless long-term measures are undertaken on an emergency basis to avert an impending water crisis.

Things can advance in the right direction only if the ruling elites get their priorities right. Instead of making heavy investments in flashy bus and train projects in major cities, attention needs to be focused on promoting agricultural production, improving governance, and reducing corruption. Prospects for a better future call for creating opportunities for all to have better and sustainable livelihoods, so no one is left hungry or malnourished for not having purchasing power or access to basic nutritional foods.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2017