The Ministry of National Food Security and Research (NFS&R) has finalised the draft of National Food and Nutritional Security Policy (NF&NSP) aimed at countering widespread food insecurity in the country. The main objective of the policy is to reduce the current food insecurity situation by 50 percent by 2030; and to bring poverty and food insecurity to zero level by 2050.
The NFS&R has sent the final draft of the notational agriculture policy to all provinces and other stakeholders for comments which would be incorporated as appropriate. The finalised draft would then be sent to cabinet for approval, a senior official of NFS&R told Business Recorder.
According to the document, the objectives of the policy are to establish the vision and institutional structures which would allow NFS&R to facilitate a process involving federal and provincial authorities including ministries, departments, development partners, civil society and private sector through the establishment of a Food and Nutrition Security Council (FNSC) at national, provincial and district level.
The main role of FNSC would be to ensure co-ordination of federal and provincial ministries and government agencies in the fight against hunger and malnutrition, and to ensure dialogue between government and civil society to devise some specific objective and strategies aimed at achieving a comprehensive food and nutritional security by increasing food supplies. The long terms goals proposed in NF&NSP is to ensure that all Pakistanis have physical and economic access to enough nutritious foods on sustainable basis for an active, healthy life; the ways in which food is produced and distributed shall be environmentally friendly and sustainable, both the production and consumption of food would be governed by social values that are just and equitable as well as moral, ethical and uphold human dignity, reduce the current food insecurity proportion with a focus on halving malnutrition by 2030 and to bring poverty, food insecurity proportion to zero level by 2050.
Four main policy features are as follows:
(i) Sustainable Food Availability: Adequate quality and variety is needed to ensure availability of food in sufficient quantity through production, purchase, and trade to meet demands of all Pakistanis at all times. Food availability refers to food that is sufficient in appropriate quantities and qualities supplied through domestic production or imports. According to the proposed policy, in the wake of growing population of Pakistan, the food demands of the country shall naturally increase. However, future food demands would be different from today because of different factors like increase in proportion of older people due to age longevity, greater urbanisation and emergence of cities, changes in family composition and structure, changes in food consumption and patterns and habits.
(ii) Food Accessibility: According to the proposed draft of agriculture policy, access to food implies whether individuals and households are able to access the required food. The new policy also stresses physical, social and economic access to adequate food at all times.
(iii)Food Utilisation and Nutrition: Food utilisation and nutrition dimension of food security means that food is properly used; proper food processing and storage techniques are employed, adequate knowledge of nutrition and childcare techniques exist and are applied. In Pakistan 45 percent of children under five years suffer from chronic malnutrition and more than 15 percent from acute malnutrition, according to National Nutrition Survey conducted in 2011.
(iv) Stability in Food Supplies: The new policy also stressed that every individual must have adequate and nutritious food that is accessible at the required time in useable farm. There is a need to improve food security management during disasters. A number of measures need to be taken in due course, including promoting coordinated approach for disaster preparedness and management, to ensure allocation of adequate resource to disaster management and improve system of assessing possibilities of a shock.
The new policy also proposes to establish, food and nutrition information system and monitoring and evaluation. Food and nutrition security information is a necessary element of national goal of reducing food insecurity and malnutrition since it helps in decision making, policy and programme interventions.