Surveying hunger: ‘Only 6.76% in farmers’ families eat three meals a day’

Pakistan Kissan Trust launches report on food security in South Punjab.

FAISALABAD:

A survey taken by the Pakistan Kissan Trust (PKT) to assess food security in the region concluded that there was severe lack of access to adequate food in the farming community in Jhang, Layyah, Khanewal and Muzaffargarh districts. The report was launched officially on Tuesday.

PKT Secretary Mahmood Ahmad and Director Shahbaz Sarwar said that the survey teams had collected primary data from randomly selected families in union councils of the districts.

They said meal intake by each family member was studied.



Sarwar said that surprisingly farmers who produced grains were facing acute shortage of food.

Quoting from the survey results, Sarwar said that 80.41 per cent of the people ate twice a day.

He said that 12.84 per cent ate once a day and 6.76 per cent of the people took three meals a day. He said that 99.9 per cent of the people interviewed said that they did not get to eat enough.

Ahmad said that 296 households were studied in the survey.



Of the respondents, 1,474 were adults and 975 children. None of them, he said, had four meals in a day, he added.

He said the survey results revealed that 100 per cent of the farmers lacked access to sufficient food for their families. Out of the 296 households surveyed, 71 had their own food supplies, 183 sold their agriculture produce, 20 had to supplement their income with seasonal labour and 22 accepted help from friends or family to fulfill their food requirements.

Ahmad said that all household heads said that their children often had to miss a meal a day because “there was not enough food in the house”.



The report said that those who had enough supplies for the time being were not sure whether they would continue getting them in future.

Ahmad said that food insecurity could lead to a generation of malnourished children in these areas.

Ahmad said that the wretchedness of poverty in these areas could be gauged from the fact that people had started accepting charity and other forms of help to ensure basic survival.

They recommended that the government immediately cut prices of fertilisers, seeds and pesticides and introduce interest-free farm loans for small growers.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 6^th, 2013.