ISLAMABAD: Minister for National Food Security and Research Syed Fakhar Imam has stressed the need to increase awareness about safe and nutritious food, and encourage the stakeholders to produce more nutritious food sustainably, and manage food waste.
He was speaking as the chief guest at an event in connection with the World Food Day, jointly organised by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Ministry of National Food Security and Research.
The World Food Day is celebrated every year on October 16, the founding day of the FAO, to raise awareness of the need for supporting the transformation to more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agri-food systems for better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life, leaving no one behind.
Imam calls for action across sectors to ensure that the agri-food systems deliver enough affordable, nutritious and safe food for all.
He said: “We have to adopt an evidence-based approach for making policies, by considering diverse areas impacting food systems, including agriculture, education, environment, water, social protection and finance.”
The government’s farmer-friendly and pro-export policies and financial assistance to vulnerable populations through social protection programmes (Ehsas) has helped them during the hard times of Covid-19 pandemic, he said.
Famous celebrity Humaima Malik participated as the World Food Day ambassador to contribute to this social cause.
FAO representative in Pakistan Florence Rolle said that the Covid-19 pandemic has off tracked to meet the commitments to end world hunger and malnutrition. Between 720 and 811 million people in the world faced hunger.
Nearly 2.37 billion people did not have access to adequate food in 2020, an increase of 320 million people in just one year. No region of the world has been spared, she added.
Conflict, climate variability and extremes, and economic slowdowns and downturns (now exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic) are major drivers of food insecurity and malnutrition, Rolle said.
She said in the backdrop of these statistics, UN secretary general António Guterres convened the Food Systems Summit in September 2021 to forge consensus on bold new actions and to transform the way the world produces, and consumes food, with an aim to get back on track to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
Ministry of Food secretary Tahir Khursheed said that Pakistan has affirmed its commitment to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals as its own national development agenda through a unanimous National Assembly resolution.
In this context, Prime Minister Imran Khan has launched an Agricultural Emergency Programme, having mega projects for productivity enhancement of major crops, as well as improvement in livestock and water sector.
These projects are focusing on strengthening research activities and providing quality seed of improved varieties, farm machinery and improved production packages to the farmers, he added.
Acting PARC chairman Dr Ghulam Muhammad Ali said: “Today we are celebrating 41st World Food Day under the theme our actions are our future, better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life.”
The overall food self-sufficiency situation in the county is still fragile, besides enhanced production of major commodities such as wheat, sugarcane, rice, etc, he added.
The food security challenges have increased manifolds under the prevailing scenario of the Covid-19 pandemic where international trade, lockdown, closure of manufacturing sector and free movement of transport sector have slowed down drastically.
He also said managing food and fiber security in future is more challenging and demanding than it was in the past, keeping in view of the availability of the quantity and quality of land, water and human labour.
