State
Minister for National Food Security and Research Moazzam Khan Jatoi has said that
the government is in the final stages to launch a National Food Security
Council to address the issue of food insecurity in the country. He was speaking
on the second day of the Sustainable Development Policy Institute’s (SDPI)
annual Sustainable Development Conference.
The
three-day conference, titled “Sustainable Development in South Asia: Shaping
the Future” is looking at the future of sustainable development in South Asia.
Delegates from South Asian countries as well as 15 other countries around the world
are participating in the conference.
The
minister said the government is pursuing a national zero hunger programme to
address hunger and malnourishment in Pakistan. However, he differed with the
country’s food insecurity statistics and said that they are estimated a bit
high.
SDPI
Executive Director Dr Abid Suleri, while addressing participants, said that
effective research and evidence-based studies help in gauging the effectiveness
of government policies. Dr Suleri also explained that food security is not
ensured by food production alone, which is commonly considered a benchmark for
food security, adding that the universal access to food and its consumption
must be the priority for states in this region.
During
another session on food security, panelists discussed ‘integrated food security
phase classification’, (IPC) a special situational analysis tool developed by
the World Food Programme, which is being used to measure food security in
Pakistan. The session concluded on the consensus that IPC has the potential to
be a highly useful tool in determining the level of food insecurity in
Pakistan. While there are some shortcomings in the IPC framework, these can be
addressed in collaboration with the Global Support Unit, which is working
diligently to address those issues.
The
government is pursuing a national zero hunger programme to address hunger and
malnourishment in Pakistan
During
a session titled ‘climate change triggers migration’, eminent social activist
Feryal Gohar said the absence of women voices in mainstream government
policies creates barriers in reaching out to the government in times of
environmental crisis. SDPI Board of Governors member Shafqat Kakakhel commented
on the vulnerability of women in times of humanitarian crises. United Nations
Women Country Director Lena Lindberg said that migration undermines economic
growth, threatens social stability, and widens gender and poverty gaps. She
said that women are forced to work on farms when their men migrate for better
economic opportunities, as a consequence of an environmental disaster. Other
experts discussed different aspects of the topic with relation to women’s
economic roles.
|
