World Food Day is today
and the message from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation on the occasion
is that we should “seriously look at what causes swings
in food prices” so that their impact on the poor can be reduced.
What causes swings in
food prices (mostly upswing) in the rest of the world may not have the same
effect in Pakistan.
In our case, inflation is often an issue of governance rather than economics.
And it affects the poor the most. According to a report written by the
Sustainable Policy Development Institute and the World Food Programme, titled “Food
security in Pakistan”, consumption of wheat in 2009-10 declined by 10 per
cent, because of an increase in its price.
The same study tells us
that half of all Pakistanis spend between 65 and 75 per cent of their monthly
income on food. Seventy-six per cent of Pakistan’s districts have very low
access to food. In terms of population, 74 per cent of the population lacks the
nutrients
needed for a balanced diet. All they can afford is cereal, sugar and oil.
This means, usually, no meat, no fruit, little milk, even less vegetables or
pulses. And around half of the entire population of the country falls in this
bracket.
Most such people are
trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty and lack of resilience against any
internal and external shock. One such shock that people, especially those who
are in the low-food consumption group face is of fuel inflation. An increase in
the cost of energy and ongoing power shortages both have an adverse impact
on the food purchasing power of many Pakistanis.
It is not only that
electricity is becoming expensive, but that process reduces the ability of many
Pakistanis to purchase enough food for themselves and their family members.
According to our study, what these people then do is to switch to less
preferred and less expensive food. They also limit how much they eat at each
meal. And in extreme cases, the consumption of food is skewed to favour the
earning adults of the household, and this causes malnourishment
among children, women and the elderly.
Increasing food prices
encourages hoarding, and this leads to panic buying, which in turn causes more
hoarding. This panic buying cycle can spiral out of control if — as often
happens in Pakistan
— the state doesn’t take charge. Even if food production in Pakistan should
not have been an issue, the absence of good governance has ensured that it has
in fact become one, because food does not reach all sections of society at a
uniform price.
So, what can be done to
reduce the impact of food price on the most vulnerable members of society? First
things first; our policy-makers need to come out of their state of denial and
accept that there is the issue of food insecurity. They then need to strengthen
the social protection system to provide targeted relief, either in the form of
cash for work or food for work programmes, to those who are deprived of access
to food. For children, local authorities should introduce free lunch schemes in
schools.
In general, the lesson to
be learnt for a country like Pakistan
is that faced with soaring food prices, there is a need to improve national
food governance. And finally, to make long-term investments in the food supply
chain at all levels.
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