Often, food insecurity comes to be associated with poverty, which is seen as a direct outcome of the lack of access to resources to generate income for living a healthy and active life, but conversely the situation is exacerbated by the nonchalant attitude and the lack of commitment on part of government authorities to cater to the dietary needs of the people.
It is glaringly obvious from the setting up of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Food Security Council, which has yet to hold its maiden meeting after more than one year to its inception. The council was set up by the provincial cabinet during its meeting in November 2021 with the sole aim to coordinate approaches for tackling the challenges of food availability, accessibility, utilization and stability in the province. As such, the provincial government had decided to spend Rs236 million to combat the looming threats of food insecurity, but the council never met to work on its mandate.
As per the cabinet’s decision, the council to be headed by Chief Minister Mahmood Khan would include representatives from environment, agriculture, irrigation, industry and other relevant government agencies and departments as members to review the state of food security and take appropriate policy measures to tackle the impending threats.
In addition to addressing the persisting challenges of malnourished children, women-headed households and increasing demands of the yield of different crops, the council was also mandated to devise mechanisms and steps for ensuring the availability of sufficient food items in its meetings, which as a matter of policy would be held every month to review the progress on the implementation of the policy and suggest solutions to overcome the challenges to food availability.
It is important to note that the more than 40 percent of children in almost all districts of the province are stunted and malnourished and it has been envisaged in the KP Food Security Policy to address these issues through the implementation of the council’s recommendations.
Population pressures continue to tip the balance against land and water management in many parts of the province, especially in the districts where agriculture yield remains very low.
While sufficient agricultural production is critical for a sustainable future, focusing on this sector alone is certainly not the way to tackle the multiple problems associated with food insecurity.
The statistics of wheat imports suggests that in KP, food production has to be managed to keep slightly ahead of population growth largely because of new breeds of different crops in and the use of tremendous amounts of agricultural chemicals. However, in most areas, losses from poor land management have erased the benefits which had been gained. Consequently, the province food imports are rising dramatically to compensate for local deficits.
In the current scheme of things, corrective measures need to be taken to stave off the impending food crisis. Although food security is a provincial subject, but as things stand any negligence by the federal government or the provinces would have negative repercussions for the population of the entire country. And, this requires a commitment to tackle the challenge in an effective manner.
