Worrying statistics: Activists of civil society urge government to work for eradication of food insecurity

Around 72 per cent of Sindh’s population facing varying degrees of food insecurity.

HYDERABAD: Activists of civil society organisations have urged the Sindh government to formulate an effective food and agriculture policy, citing high levels of malnutrition among the poorer people.

The participants, speaking at a meeting organised by the Peoples’ Network on Food and Agriculture on Tuesday, expressed concerns that Sindh lacked a coherent policy to cater to its most vulnerable residents.

Shahbaz Bukhari, Oxfam’s ‘Grow Campaign’ manager, referred to the National Nutrition Survey of Pakistan, 2011, to highlight the seriousness of the problem. According to the survey, food insecurity in urban and rural areas of Pakistan was assessed at 18 per cent and 21 per cent, respectively. But in Sindh, supposed to be rich in agriculture, the figure was 34 per cent, which was considerably higher than any other province. Up to 17 per cent of the province’s population suffers from severe hunger, according to the survey.

“The three categories of insecurity - without hunger, with hunger and with severe hunger, when put together, reveal that around 72 per cent of Sindh’s population is faced by some degree of food scarcity.”

Punhal Saryo of the Sindh Hari Porhiyat Council explained that water management, poor infrastructure, lack of employment opportunities and educational facilities, bad governance, landless peasants, disproportionate land holdings and poverty were some of the major contributors to food insecurity in rural areas.

“A legal policy guideline formed by the provincial legislature that addresses a holistic agriculture development, incentives for the sector, food security, rights for peasants, equitable land ownership and empowerment of women agriculture workers is the need of the hour,” said the regional manager of Strengthening Participatory Organisation, Mustafa Baloch.

Lal Chand, an agriculture officer and the focal person for the directorate of Agriculture Extension Sindh, informed the meeting that the per acre yield of crops had remained stagnant since 1999. He added, however, that the province’s population had almost doubled over the last 15 years, posing a major threat to food security.

According to Prof Muhammad Ismail Kumbhar of the Sindh Agriculture University, Tando Jam, climate change, salinity and use of chemicals was adversely affecting soil fertility and productivity.

The NGO representatives requested the government to consult agricultural experts and form a long-term policy to ensure continuous growth and food security.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 28^th, 2014.