Govt aiming to start zero hunger programme: Minister

Imam says country’s population expected to increase to around 255m by 2030

ISLAMABAD:

Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Syed Fakhar Imam has said that the government is aiming to start National Zero Hunger Programme with a focus to achieve goals like stabilsation of food prices, promoting climate-smart-and-precision agriculture and scaling up social protection.

Sharing a statement on Coalition of Action for Zero Hunger for UN Food System Summit in September 2021, the minister noted that Pakistan was a lower middle income country with the fifth largest population in the world.

“Our population is expected to increase to around 255 million by 2030,” he said, adding “unfortunately, Pakistan has one of the world’s highest rates of malnutrition among women and children, which is due to issues such as lack of dietary diversity and unaffordability of food”.

As per National Food Security Policy 2018 and Agriculture Transformation Plan 2021, achieving nutritional food security is a high priority for the Pakistan’s development agenda.

“The government is committed for the realisation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to achieve zero hunger through promoting sustainable agriculture as a top priority,” the minister observed.

“We will be creating an enabling and peaceful environment to involve all stakeholders for the transformation of Pakistan Food Systems,” he added.

The minister maintained that Prime Minister Imran Khan and his team were committed towards achieving zero hunger for the country’s population and determined to join “The Coalition of Action for Achieving Zero Hunger” under the UN Food System Summit initiative.