Enough excuses: Civil activists urge govt to formulate ‘food security’ plan

Piler chief says major reason for food insecurity is government’s bad policies

KARACHI:

Civil activists and researchers have urged the government to formulate a ‘food security plan’ to ensure the availability of food for the residents of Tharparkar and other arid zones of Sindh.

They were speaking at a seminar, titled ‘Food Security and Livelihoods in Sindh: Addressing the Vulnerabilities’, organised by the Pakistan Institute of Labour, Education and Research (Piler). The participants emphasised the need to produce credible data, based on research findings, to ensure the transition of the population from ‘vulnerability to well-being’.

Hissar Foundation’s CEO, Dr Sono Khangharani, speaking on the prevalent situation in Thar, said that the indigenous residents of the desert had their own conventional methods of food collection. The Tharparkar region is spread over 22,000 square kilometres and is largely barren. Its residents depend on rainfall to cultivate their land. The main source of livelihood is rearing animals, he explained.

The vulnerability of the residents of the desert region can be gauged from the fact that at least 1.5 million people migrate to fertile areas each year in search of better sources of income. Dr Khangarani said that at least 62 per cent of Thar residents live without proper food. He lamented, however, that there was no authentic data on food availability or the impact of hunger and poverty in the area. One feature to measure the abject poverty was the fact that 80 per cent of the population took credit every year and it took them four to five years to repay the loans due to lack of sources of income.



Young mothers are the most vulnerable in terms of food insecurity. The insufficient intake of food by these mothers directly affects their children, the consequences of which were witnessed in the reports of deaths at Mithi hospital.

Dr Abdul Rahim Soomro, the provincial secretary for the livestock and fisheries department, maintained that the government was well aware of the issues of drought in Thar. He said that the government had inducted additional veterinary doctors to help the herders save their traditional assets and main sources of livelihood. For Dr Soomro, however, food security was a very diverse and sensitive subject. He reasoned that the deterioration of the environment and the overall society was caused by each member of the society.

Piler executive director Karamat Ali, in his introductory remarks, made it clear that : “When we talk about the issue of food insecurity, we must look at it in relation with land.” Explaining his stance, he said that food grew on land that was owned by certain landlords, who were in turn, influential politicians. It is these people who decide what will grow on their land; whether it will be cash crops or grains.

According to Ali, another major reason for food insecurity was bad policy-making on the part of the government. For instance, despite the fact that malnutrition is a major concern in the province, the Sindh government has announced to export one million tons of wheat to other countries. The justification the government gave for this is that they did not have warehouses to store the surplus wheat. What is ironic is that these children who are dying of malnutrition belong to the very province that produces so much wheat that it is able to export the surplus, he said.



Sadiqa Sallahuddin, the head of Indus Resource Centre (IRC), said that 72 per cent of the population in villages depended on cultivation for their livelihoods. She said that small land holders cultivate their pieces of family land. Since they do not have more money to put in the crops, they usually get less production.

Iqbal Detho, the provincial coordinator for advocacy in Save the Children Fund said that it was the state’s responsibility to provide access to food to every citizen. He said that people dying due to malnutrition is a violation of that very right.

The question-answer session in the end became heated as some angry members of civil society from interior Sindh expressed their frustration over such talks held only in huge hotel rooms that have little impact on the decisions and implementation of legislations and the impact on the life of people living in those areas.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 31^st, 2014.