Islamabad
Speaking at a conference on ‘Nutrition-sensitive agriculture in Mountain Areas’ the experts have said that sufficient and nutritious food to everyone is a fundamental human right.
The 2-day conference was organised here by International Cooperation.
The speakers said that malnutrition is a big problem and root cause of stunting, morbidity and early death. They observed that majority of the people living in mountainous regions are malnourished because agriculture there has poor infrastructure and scarce arable land.
They said thatthe nutrition-sensitive agriculture aimed at improving the nutritional status of the people in respective countries by increasing the nutrition impact of food and agricultural system. Poverty, underdevelopment and low socio-economic status are major contributors to malnutrition, which should be solved on priority bases.
They referred to different forms of malnutrition in the world leading to under-nutrition, micronutrient deficiency, overweight and obesity. Quoting from data, they said, globally, 161 million children under five-year of age had low height-for-age (stunting), while 51 million for the same age group had low weight-for-height (acute malnutrition) and other 42 million were victim of over-weight.
Expert from Pakistan said that agriculture was a key sector of Pakistan’s economy. Farmers mainly focus on larger yields and cash crops with higher income gains than higher value for kitchen.