Moniza Inam discusses the
various aspects of food insecurity in Pakistan which affects a growing number
of people today
“Hunger
is exclusion — exclusion from the land, from income, jobs, wages, life and citizenship.
When a person gets to the point of not having anything to eat, it is because
all the rest has been denied. This is a modern form of exile. It is death in
life…”
— Josue de Castro
Of late,
Pakistan has been going through the worst crisis since its inception. Apart
from corruption, poor governance, terrorism, suicide bombing, militancy and an
insurgency in Balochistan, it is facing another very acute problem afflicting a
large portion of the population: food insecurity—a problem whose manifestations
are grave.
We all
have witnessed the long rows of beggars at traffic signals in our urban
centres. Not all ask for money now; rather, they ask you to buy them a meal.
The same is the case in the rural areas. Recently, a friend, travelling to
Lahore by bus, narrated to me a horrifying account: ‘Wherever the bus stopped
en route, there were hordes of beggars—half-clad and malnourished, with stunted
growth—asking for food.’ This scenario should not surprise anyone, as according
to the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) report on Pakistan’s
food crisis, nearly 48.6 per cent of the population is food insecure.
This
situation is a challenge for development experts as Pakistan is an agrarian
country, and supposedly, ‘food self-sufficient’ for that reason. However, the
prevailing conditions prove the point that issues of food security are directly
linked to the food availability concerns (socio-economic access to food),
besides production.
Explaining
the complex problem, Najma Sadiq, director of the Green Economics Initiative
under Shirkat Gah, (which focuses on ecological agriculture, especially for
women; renewable development and globalisation impacts), says, “A country can
be food self-sufficient, but the majority can still starve because it is jobless
and devoid of any purchasing power. Simultaneously, cash crops serve the
industry and are exported to enrich the big landlords, traders and investors.
As a consequence, the rural and the urban poor, as well as the low-income
earners, have been suffering from food insecurity for at least two to three
decades.
“Although
the maximum number of livelihoods in the country comes from agriculture and
related activities, progress has been largely poor because of an undemocratic
state that is neglectful of public priorities. The state allows untaxed land
monopolies without caps, and has nurtured a predatory and exploitative economy
to benefit the landed, the politically and officially privileged, the wealthy
and the upper middle-class,” adds Sadiq.
However,
the issue demands not just national but universal attention, as food prices
have been consistently climbing since 2000. Additionally, governments all over
the world are sceptical over the prevailing fallout and social unrest, which,
in extreme cases, is capable of resulting in an atmosphere of rioting and
upheaval.
In the
recent cases of instability in the Middle East and North Africa it is the less
privileged who have suffered more. The most vulnerable are the poor, the
unemployed, marginalised communities and, generally, the disadvantaged groups
who are food insecure. According to the World Bank’s (2011) report, nearly 44
million people in the developing countries have been pushed into acute poverty
owing to the rising prices of corn, wheat and oil.
Back in
Pakistan food insecurity remains a grave problem. According to news reports,
malnourishment levels in some parts of the country are dangerously high,
equating almost to those found in the Sub-Saharan Africa. Last year’s
devastating floods aggravated an already dire problem, creating a crisis
situation. However, Sadiq doesn’t agree with this fully and says, “The floods
have provided a convenient and untruthful excuse to the government for its
failures. Floods are natural phenomena that have become a problem because the
rivers and forests along them have been wiped out, misused and mismanaged.
“When a
person routinely doesn’t get enough to eat, he allows malnourishment to rear
its ugly head. There have been consistent reports, spanning at least the past
50 years, on poor women and children suffering from anaemia. But it’s not
prevalent in just some parts of the country: it’s everywhere, and it gets worse
in the inaccessible areas. Flood or no flood, if peasants are deprived of land,
water and their productive potential, food prices will continue to escalate and
more will starve,” she concludes.
The
country is facing many issues. Crime is rampant in our cities and towns and
many are feeling increasingly insecure and helpless, which in turn gives rise
to multiple psychological problems. According to the SDPI report, ‘one can try
to understand the insurgency and militancy in Balochistan, FATA, KPK and the
four remote districts of southern Punjab from a food security angle. Although
it is difficult to develop conclusive empirical proof, the strong overlap of
food insecurity and militancy provides considerable evidence of a political
nexus’.
Elaborating
the issue further, Dr Abid Suleri, who specialises in food security issues,
says, “Poverty (of which food insecurity is one of the worst forms) and
violence have a chicken-egg relation: poverty induces violence and vice versa.
In Pakistan, most of the militancy hit districts, and the worst food insecure
districts overlap.
“Unfortunately,
many have responded to the ‘high prevalence’ of food insecurity by resorting to
extraor- dinary behaviour, committing suicide, working as bonded labour,
selling or killing dependents, selling body organs and engaging in anti-social
activities—basically whatever can feed them or rid them of life’s woes. There
are also many who succumb to the inducements of militants.”
“Many
insurgents, like those in Balochistan, are not ideological hardliners, but
impoverished young people ‘outraged by chronic hunger’, and by the government’s
consistent inability to provide services. The violence, in turn, further
increases food insecurity and this vicious cycle goes on, eroding the
socio-political fabric of our society,” adds Suleri.
It is not
that the government is unaware of the rising problem; it is very much aware of
its disastrous consequences. As mentioned in the Pakistan Economic Survey
2010-11, ‘food inflation averaged at 18 per cent during the last four years in
Pakistan. There are many structural factors, combined with short-term
disruptions and natural calamities that are responsible for this inordinate
rise. Bringing food inflation down remains the major policy challenge for
Pakistan’. Yet, despite our efforts, we were not able to get to a senior
officer for the government’s view on the issue due to the ongoing devolution
process.
It is time
the government reconsidered its priorities and, keeping aside its history of
neglect and indifference, made concerted efforts to revitalise the farming
sector to ensure food security for all citizens. What we need is nothing short
of a paradigm shift that views hunger as a national security threat.
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