Hunger levels

That so many of the people in Pakistan are poor cannot come as a shock but that they go hungry every day should at the very least shame us into action. Pakistan’s rank at 92 among 116 countries on the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2021 should be a serious cause of concern. Pakistan has scored 24.7 on GHI, which means the country’s hunger levels are fairly serious. Countries such as Pakistan need to take this issue seriously and must help food-insecure communities build some resilience. Civil society and both private and public sectors must cooperate with each other to raise public awareness and understanding of the struggle against hunger. The fight against hunger and to reduce food and nutrition insecurity should be one of the top priorities of the government. Since Pakistan has vast areas that are arid or barren, there is a need to explore the nutritional values of indigenous flora that may be in short supply but could produce recipes for consumption. This requires research so that local vegetation may be explored for further plantation across deserts and dry areas too.

Localized nutrition composition tables within agro-climatic zones can play a significant role in this fight against hunger. The threat of hunger has further intensified in the face of climate change, while Pakistan is still lagging behind in adapting local food systems. A failure in tackling this issue may result in the country’s failure to feed its people. The resilience of local food systems is something that needs further exploration and intervention so that even in the face of inevitable climate change the government can take some initiatives against increasing hunger in the country. The government must now keep tracking the hunger level especially in the aftermath of the recent heavy rains and floods that have destroyed standing crops. The demographic and health surveys are an important tool to track nutrition-related issues and the government must enhance its capacity to conduct more reliable and timely surveys so that a data-driven approach can help the government in the fight against hunger. Since the number of hungry and poor people is likely to rise rapidly in the next months due to natural calamities hitting the country hard, there is no room now for any complacency.

The fact that countries in the neighbourhood such as Bangladesh and Nepal were ranked 76th as opposed to Pakistan’s 92nd place on the hunger scale also shows a relative lack of initiative of successive governments in the country. Though there has been some improvement in score compared to what it was in 2000, there is still a lot to do. Pakistan has millions of people falling in the category of poor to low-income households experiencing alarming levels of hunger and malnutrition. This is a daunting challenge the country faces as its growing population is placing even more demands on already strained food resources. The recent upward trend in inflation has also impacted the common people adversely. From droughts to floods, citizens vacillate between lost opportunities. Livestock diseases and a depleting flora and fauna compound the pains of hunger. The people of this country need a rapid improvement in income-generating opportunities and the government must tackle this problem head on.