‘More than half of Pakistanis are food insecure’

University of Agriculture Vice Chancellor says food insecurity affects 60 per cent of Pakistan’s population.

FAISALABAD:

Food insecurity affects 60 per cent of Pakistan’s population, University of Agriculture Vice Chancellor Iqrar Ahmad Khan said on Saturday.

Khan urged agricultural scientists to help increase food production to feed the rapidly growing population. The world’s population would reach nine billion by the year 2050, a threat to food insecurity, he added.

Khan said that climate change was a threat to reliable productivity. Per capita water availability had also decreased due to the melting of glaciers. Pakistan is now on the list of countries with scarce water resources.

He emphasised the need to adopt the latest agricultural practices. Agronomy would play a vital role in increasing productivity, Khan said.  PSA former president Hafiz Muhammad Akram said the Pakistan Society of Agronomy promotes agronomic research, disseminates scientific information and provides opportunities for close cooperation among agronomists working in different organizations.

Department of Agronomy Chairman Ehsan Ullah said that an increase in global food production in the past decades had resulted from better crop management and advances in agronomy.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 5^th, 2014.