Summary Pakistan will have to increase its food supply to up to fifty percent in next 10 years: ADB
Dunya News Report (Madiha Fareed)
Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Country Director to Pakistan Werner Liepach has warned that Pakistan will have to increase its food supply to up-to fifty percent in next 10 years to meet the needs of a projected population of 221 million.
During a workshop ‘Technical Assistance: Balochistan Water Resources” jointly conducted by Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the participants shed light on fast approaching calamity of food shortage in the country.
“Urgent Action is needed to achieve water and food security as it exposes rural communities to high vulnerability”, said an ADB official during the workshop.
Pakistan will also face water scarcity within next three years as the water available per capita has decreased to 1068 cubic meters in 2013 from 5,000 cubic meters in 1950. Pakistan is fast approaching the global water scarcity threshold which is 1,000 m3.
Food scarcity stems from water crisis, natural disasters and extreme weather conditions. Population growth is also a major factor behind shortage. The increase in the number of people means greater competition for resources. Pakistan is also among the top ten countries most affected by the climate change.
“Eradicating Extreme Poverty and Hunger” is on top of United Nations’ Millennium Development goals (MGDs). According to the World Bank (WB), the world needs to produce at least 50 percent more food to feed 9 billion people by 2050. The WB also warns that crop yields will drop by 25 percent by that time due to climate change.
The governments in Pakistan have chosen to ignore the problem despite a number of warnings by international experts. In 2013, Oxfam had warned that Pakistan is among 21 countries that will face food shortage in the next ten years. Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), in 2012, on the occasion of World Food Day had also stressed the need of an urgent action to avoid food shortage.
Unfortunately, the most important sector of our economy has been given no proper attention over the years. Agriculture sector accounts for 23 percent of the country’s GDP, and employs about 55 percent of the labor force. But regrettably no government has paid heed to address the fall of agriculture sector; Pakistan’s agriculture techniques are outdated and fall behind modern technology. The irrigation system, though largest in the world, has not been upgraded according to the modern days needs as no specializations have been introduced to increase production.
Major factors underlying this poor performance in agriculture sector include a slow rate of technological innovation, limited adoption of progressive farming techniques, problems with quality, quantity and timeliness of input supply, limited investment in construction and maintenance of infrastructure, marketing and trade restrictions, pest and livestock disease problems, limited amounts of credit for agricultural production and processing and the lack of agriculture-specific financing.
Prime Minister’s Kisaan Relief Package is another of PML-N government’s less thought through and poorly conceived programme. The government has announced 341 billion rupees to financially aid the poor farmers. KIsaan Relief Programme only touches the surface and does not address the actual problem which is the need of structural reforms to uplift the agriculture sector.
Interior Sindh is already experiencing a drought and hundreds of children have died in Thar due to food shortage and malnutrition. United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UNFAO) reported that 37.5 million people in Pakistan were not receiving proper nourishment.
Sadly no one in the government seems to be worried about the horrible near future that awaits the country. Ishaq Dar recently sang about his government’s economic progress and was mocked by the opposition members for presenting a report that was so far away from the reality.
“Pakistan Vision 2025” by Ministry of Planning, Development and Reform has listed “Energy, Water and food security” as its fourth pillar of development. The official document states that the agriculture sector in Pakistan has been poor recently as one out of every three Pakistanis does not have regular and assured access to sufficient nutritious food.
The goal 16 of the Pakistan Vision 2025 states that the government aims to reduce the food insecure population by half, from sixty percent to thirty percent by 2025.
Persistent and serious efforts are needed to boost the agriculture sector and tackle the food scarcity that is just around the corner. A long-term plan is needed to modernize the agriculture sector in order to avoid the fast approaching food scarcity. The authorities need to understand the fierce urgency of the matter before it’s too late.
