Food security: Sindh fails to introduce sustainable policy

Minister says 18th Amendment has not been implemented fully.

KARACHI: The Sindh government has failed to introduce new agriculture, environment and food security policies despite the passage of 18th Amendment to the Constitution.

The provincial government urgently needs to introduce a sustainable agriculture policy to ensure food security and better-quality seeds, said experts at a policy dialogue on the “Right to food and sustainable agriculture”, organised by SEARCH Pakistan in collaboration with the Oxfam Grow Campaign and ActionAid.

Sindh Minister of Environment Sikandar Mendhro said agriculture, climate change and food security were interlinked, therefore, all stakeholders should team up, give suggestions and work jointly to give a boost to these sectors.

He said seminars should also be held in rural areas of Sindh to inform female farmers, 70% of whom work in the fields, about agricultural issues.

He said the 18th Amendment was adopted after a long struggle but ironically it had still not been fully implemented. Floods in 2010 and 2011 brought massive devastation, but the provincial government failed to rehabilitate the affected regions and provide relief to the people.

PPP leader Taj Haider said Sindh was facing water shortage as the natural water flow had been damaged, which should be replaced with a manmade drainage system. He suggested that underground water in Thar should be extracted, tested and used for suitable purposes. “We need solutions to water-logging and salinity as well.”

Noted intellectual and environmental expert, Zulfiqar Halepoto, said agriculture comprised several segments and the province must focus on all issues like water shortage, drought and climate change.

He said the right to food was now considered a fundamental human right at the United Nations, but the government paid little attention, adding 69% of children in Sindh were malnourished.

ActionAid Regional Manager Shah Jehan said: “Our country is rich in natural resources and agriculture, but farmers, particularly women, face problems of food security and poverty despite growing crops.”

He asked all political parties and social groups to work together to resolve food security, agriculture and other issues besetting people in the country. He asked SEARCH and other NGOs to come forward and frame action plans to resolve the issues. 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 30^th,  2014.

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