43 per cent Pakistanis food insecure’ despite surplus food

ISLAMABAD: Despite having surplus food to feed its population, 43 per cent of Pakistan’s citizens remain food insecure with 18 per cent facing a severe shortage, said World Food Programme (WFP) Country Director Lola Castro in an exclusive interview.

Castro is concluding her threeyear term and declared Pakistan a food-sufficient country with largest irrigation system, but also a place that remained incapable of serving its large population.

Around 15 per cent of the population under the age of five is acutely malnourished. Close to 43 per cent children (around 10 million) face stunted growth and are chronically malnourished, said Castro, adding that most of them are in FATA, Balochistan and Tharparkar.

“The problem is not food production, but poverty and illiteracy that bar people from access to food with required calories and nutrition,” said Castro. Children and women are the most vulnerable as far as food insecurity is concerned.

“Close to 18 per cent of the country’s population gets less than 1,700 calories per day, making them severely food insecure.

The requirement for a healthy individual is at least 2,350 calories per day.” Suggesting solutions, Castro said that the vulnerable population needed subsidised food and support through different programmes including the Benazir Income Support Programme, which presently covers around 5 million people. “There is a need for further expansion of such programmes.”

Castro added that Pakistan needed to diversify its produce and add variety to its crops. — Internews