Seventy-one per cent households in Sindh facing food insecurity

A consultation meeting regrets government's apathy towards food insecurity

KARACHI: Over 71 per cent of the households in Sindh are facing food insecurity, said a Planning and Development official, Dr Nida Khan.

"We have failed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals," said Khan. She was addressing a consultation meeting on the formation of a Steering Committee on Food and Climate Justice, arranged by Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) at Regent Plaza on Thursday.

"We have assessed the impact of food insecurity and climate change in communities of six districts, including Karachi, Thatta, Badin, Hyderabad, Jamshoro and Sanghar", said PFF project manager Maria Soomro.

PFF programme manager Mustafa Gurgaiz shared the figures of a Sindh government report. "Of 71 per cent populace facing food insecurity, 34 per cent households face moderate hunger and 17 per cent face severe hunger," he said.

"The situation of food insecurity is very pathetic," said PFF chairperson Muhammad Ali Shah. "All the stakeholders need to play their due role to resolve the issue."

Government's role

"The government is responsible for implementation of policies," said Sindh Environment Department technical director Waqar Hussain Phulpoto. "But it doesn't," he added. The government is unaware of the consequences of food insecurity and impact of climate change, he said. "The climate change is the major contributor of the food insecurity."

Sindh's eight districts, in the south and along its coastal belt, were identified as being 'extremely poor' and with no access to food resources, said Gurgaiz. "Climate change is not on our priority," he claimed while criticising the government. He said that climate change has negatively affected the agriculture sector.

Iqbal Detho, a social activist, criticised the role of Sindh government in budget allocation and utilisation. Budget for the nutrition programme has been lapsed since the past three years, he pointed out. The civil society is unable to understand the public policy, he added.

"The government insists on increasing food production and its export but not on providing food to those who actually need it," said PFF senior consultant Ali Arsalan. There is no point in pinning hope on government, he said. "It clearly doesn't care about the situation at hand."

 Creating awareness

"Another problem is that people don't know the meanings of these terms," said Soomro. "They don't realise the type of impact these terms have on their lives." She encouraged the audience to play their part and at least plant one tree.

Mehnaz Rehman of Aurat Foundation, Altaf Shaikh from World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan and Ambreen Aziz of Sindh Madressatul Islam University highlighted various impacts of the climate change in Sindh. The officials demanded that government should implement policies and disseminate awareness among the people.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 12^th, 2015.