slamabad Police won popular praise on social media platforms recently after its personnel provided food and edibles to a distressed family. The police had received a call on their 15 Helpline by which a man asked for immediate help as his family had nothing to eat. A similar case was reported from Layyah where, once again, the policemen bought rations for the poor family.

Such incidents, though not unprecedented, are only now being highlighted in the media as around 40 percent of the population has slipped below the poverty line. The daily-wage workers and the jobless are amongst the most vulnerable.

Nutrition surveys have repeatedly indicated widespread malnutrition among half of the country’s population with about 20 percent suffering from severe deficiencies. The World Health Organisation reports that 40 percent of children under the age of five suffer from stunting and 18 percent from wasting, while 28 percent are underweight. Poverty is the big curse behind this situation, but the incidences of stunting and wasting exist across income groups. Pakistan ranks 88 out of 107 countries in Global Hunger Index with more than a third of the population being food insecure. So, the police interventions in Islamabad and Layyah, though praiseworthy acts, are not a permanent remedy.

Poverty alleviation requires education, skills and employment opportunities. Even more important is the challenge of availability, affordability and assimilation of food for all people at all times. Poverty-led hunger, migration and crime have serious implications for the social order. The divide between the haves and have-nots is getting wider. Food insecurity is proportionate to the inequalities among various income groups.

Administratively, one is reminded of Caliph Omar (with whom Allah was pleased), who had declared that if a dog dies hungry on the banks of River Euphrates, he would be responsible for dereliction of duty. Distributive injustices occur because of greed/ hoarding and poor governance.

Amartya Sen, the Nobel laureate, has argued that the Bengal famine of 1940s, was more a case of distributive injustice and failure of entitlements than of a shortage in food production. Today, we, too, have cartels and hoarders making profits during the food crisis. It is better not to wait for the day when police may be needed control food riots. When the Bengal famine occurred police were of no help.

The Benazir Income Support Programme maintains a database of 35 million families. Out of those, 8 million families are currently benefiting from the Kafalat programme as they lack enough income to buy the essentials. The National Disaster Management Authority, civil society and community activism plays important role in the event of emergency as was witnessed during floods in Sindh and Baluchistan last year. There were many good examples of philanthropy, participatory empathy and neighborhood watch. The idea of setting up a food bank and food stamps has been around. However, the food security challenge is a perennial cause of action and not a disaster or emergency response.

Our food production system has not kept pace with the growing demand. A part of the problem is an ever increasing population which is rising beyond the bearing capacity of the current land and water use. That is further aggravated by wasteful attitudes: post-harvest losses range from 15 percent to 50 percent and approximately 40 percent of the cooked food goes to waste.

Our food production system has not kept pace with the growing demand. The problem includes an ever-increasing population which is rising beyond the bearing capacity of the current land and water use that is further aggravated by wasteful attitudes.

Lately, food imports and sugar export have led to unprecedented food inflation. The import bill of essential commodities has crossed the $10 billion a year mark. This includes wheat, edible oil, pulses and soybean. For a country with 56 million acres cropped area, import of essential food items is a serious cause of concern. In this crisis, there is an opportunity for productivity enhancement. Our water productivity is 150-200 grams per cubic metre compared to the potential of 1,500 grams (in California). We also have a serious technological gap. Climate change is an additional reality.

We are a wheat-eating population. We have an excess of rice, maize and potato which are also staple foods. Yet, the food habit dominates. Habits do change slowly. One can recall the days when rice was a ceremonial dish. Now it is a part of everyday meals. Potato consumption has also gone up tremendously. However, direct maize consumption has declined due lack of product diversification. The traditional homemade maize bread is out of fashion. Maize production in the country is surplus and it is half the price of wheat. Blending maize flour with wheat flour is an economic as well as nutritional option that requires publicity.

Any strategic agricultural and food systems transformation in Pakistan must address the wheat production first. It is the single largest crop and was sown on 22 million acres this year. The remaining 50-plus crops took the rest of the acreage. The low hanging fruit is breaking the yield stagnation of wheat. It is 30 maunds per acre currently against a potential of 60-plus. Realisation of the potential can spare land for other crops ie, oilseeds and pulses. Replacing wheat on some of the land with other Rabi crops could also change the cropping pattern in favour of early-sown cotton.

Breaking the wheat yield stagnation is not a complex recipe. Progressive farmers are already harvesting an average of 50 maunds per acre. The following suggestions can be of benefit.

Most farmers tend to use grain saved from the preceding year as seed. The recommended practice is to use certified seed of the most adapted varieties. The breeders have been releasing better varieties, but the seed supply chain is non-responsive. There is a case for educating the farmers. Time and method of sowing/ seeding too offer significant yield benefits. Ideally, wheat should be sown in Sindh and south Punjab by mid-November. In upper Punjab it should be sown by the end of November. The broadcasting of seed fails to give uniform crop stand, resulting in suboptimal population and wastage due to high seed rates. Drill sowing saves two thirds of seed (imagine 22 million acres) and guarantees optimum population and uniform crop stand. Unfortunately, ~80 percent of the crop is sown by broadcasting due to lack of seed drills.

Also, the market is dominated by urea and DAP fertilisers. Potash and micronutrients are equally important for good yield but mostly missing. Some of the incentives given for urea and DAP should be diverted to promote potash application.

Weed control through weedicide application is also essential. A majority of farmers use shoulder mounted sprayers which lack precision and pose serious health hazards. Drones are the future spray machines.

Wheat is a low delta and drought tolerant crop. The farmer tends to irrigate wheat without assessing the actual water need. Carefully irrigated wheat can be harvested with three applications of water. Our average is five. The wheat harvesters in the field are causing 15-20 percent losses. Refurbishing the old machines and training the operators can save some of the losses.

The wheat procurement process also needs to be strengthened. The support price and procurement by the government is a dicey intervention. A better policy would be to announce indicative price and allow the market forces determine the prices.

Pakistan is endowed with vast natural resources that should be utilized efficiently to ensure food security. The wheat recipe outlined above can be rephrased for other food crops as well.

The writer is the vice-chancellor of University of Agriculture, Faisalabad