Floods have displaced over 20 million people from their homes and destroyed over 2 million hectares of crops, raising fears of growing hunger and malnutrition among poor people - "If we are to defeat hunger, we must empower and facilitate small farmers, especially women to have own land, and have access to seed and fertiliser." This was the crux of a panel discussion organised by an NGO to mark the World Food Day here on Saturday.
Food Security, flood and implications for Rural Women was the title of discussion forum organised during 2-day Conference on World Rural Women Day. Marking World Food Day, The forum aimed to highlight rural women contribution in country's economy and assess impact of floods on growing hunger and food shortage in the country and its implications for women, children and other vulnerable groups.
The organising NGO shared its hunger scorecard report, which indicates that Pakistan is much worse in terms of food security than its South Asian neighbours including India, Nepal and Bangladesh. Compared to 25 developing countries it occupies the bottom position indicating a serious gap in policies and practices necessary to ensure food security such as investing in poor farmers, and introducing basic measures to protect the vulnerable.
The food crisis in the new millennium is the bitter fruit of years of underfunding, political neglect and failed free market policies. The heaviest price of rising world hunger, however, will be paid by our children. Unless concrete policy measures are taken to ensure women farmers have access to land, seed, credit, education and other agricultural inputs, we are bound to lose this fight, said Aftab Alam, Action Aid International food rights expert. Women from flood-hit Layyah and Kot Addu shared their tales of suffering demanding their rightful share in cultivable land.
There is only one way that women can survive the flood devastation; government should provide seed and fertiliser immediately as the flood water has receded and our land is ready for cultivation, but we don't have money to buy seed, said Arshad Bibi, a share cropper and landless farmer from Katchi Gobba, Bhakkar.
Bakhtawar Bibi, a farmer from Kot Addu, demanded that government distribute land amongst landless women Haris so that they can feed themselves and heir children. It is a tragedy that we who grow food are hungry and we who build houses as labourers are without a roof. Floods have washed away everything, now sand is our home and mud is our grave.