ood security remains an essential component of Pakistan’s development paradigm. The country is currently self-sufficient in major staples and is ranked 8th in the world for wheat production, 10th for rice, 5th for sugarcane and 4th for milk. Despite this, the 2018 National Nutrition Survey showed that about 37 percent of the population faces food insecurity, among which 18.3 percent face “severe” food insecurity. As per the Global Hunger Index 2023, Pakistan ranks 102 out of 125 countries, indicating a hunger level that is serious.

While much of this is dependent on economic access to food, an equally critical aspect to ensuring food security is minimising food loss, particularly post-harvest losses. This pertains to the loss of food and the inputs required to produce it at any instance along the supply chain.

The Worldwide Fund for Nature-Pakistan’s research (2019) on post-harvest losses in the tomato and rice supply chains across four major cities of Pakistan revealed that losses occur at the farm level; the processing level; and again when the commodities are packaged, stored and transported for distribution. Other factors that affect losses are crop varieties; agricultural and management practices; and rainfall at the time of cultivation and harvesting.

It is, therefore, critical to develop supply chain infrastructure including not only roads and transport systems, but also technological innovations in the form of farm machinery and post-harvest storage technologies and packaging and processing techniques to reduce food loss and waste. One such modification could be locally produced, recyclable and temperature controlled packaging that not only preserves food quality, but also supports sustainability efforts.

Open and overloaded trucks are often a critical loss point. A particular focus on vehicles, equipment, infrastructure and handling procedures can help reduce this. There is a need to load and carefully unload vehicles to avoid damaging food. At the same time, investments can be made in advancing logistics and cold chain management; using technology to better manage the storage life of produce and improve its quality.

Food security as an indicator is greatly impacted by climate change. Crop yields suffer due to climate variation. The agriculture sector is also the largest consumer of water, the availability of which is already strained and is expected to worsen with climate change and rising population.

Further, population growth and the rapid rate of urbanisation are putting pressure on the agriculture sector to increase production, but also to respond to a changing and diversifying food consumption pattern. Most subsectors of agriculture have either remained static or declined over the last three decades, with the exception of livestock, signaling considerable scope for improvement in production and processing.

In Pakistan, agriculture is the largest employer and plays a crucial role from social, livelihood and foreign standpoints. Food systems, which rely heavily on nature, are part of Pakistan’s Nationally Determined Contributions, including agroforestry, climate smart agriculture and sustainable livestock.

While industrialised agriculture exists, food production in Pakistan relies predominantly on smallholders, which represent 90 percent of the farmers in Pakistan, thus making it essential to support them in climate change adaptation.

In the Jhelum district, WWF-Pakistan is working with more than 2,000 smallholder farmers growing sugarcane to train them in climate smart agriculture practices including sowing techniques, efficient use of water, use of natural insect control agents and harvesting etc. These steps have led to lower input costs, larger and higher quality yields and increased profits, reducing the need to expand plantation and convert more land. Across farms, 25 percent less fertiliser and 10 percent less pesticides have been used. The amount of water used has decreased by 25 percent. Overall, inputs decreased by 35 percent and productivity went up by an average of 12 percent, with some farmers reporting increases as high as 40 percent.

This relatively small project demonstrates that significant benefits can stem from small changes in practices at the farm level. There is great potential in supporting smallholders by enhancing capacity and improving market access and scaling and replicating successes. Minimal support towards nature-positive practices at the policy level and poor coordination between agencies at the implementation level hinders progress.

WWF’s Great Food Puzzle tool, which offers tailored solutions for food systems across the world, assesses the impact of 20 transformation levers to provide guidance on levels that have the highest potential impact in the shortest time. Literature reviews and expert consultations in Pakistan emphasise the urgent need to close gaps in ambition strategy and implementation to achieve food transformation.

Through multi-sectoral partnership and a participatory approach, policymakers, businesses and financers must come together for natural resource management, adopting food production practices that optimise yield while preserving ecosystem services and restoring biodiversity. This can be done through opitimisation of land use, which includes increasing yield through better food production practices that use water and fertilisers more efficiently.

Another high-potential intervention is de-risking investments that encourage nature-positive practices. Too often, upfront costs and risks are a barrier to adoption of climate-smart practices. However, this can be overcome by the liberal use of subsidies to facilitate the transformation to nature-positive practices and supply chains and offset initial risks and costs for farmers.

It is equally important to improve data collection and measurement on current behaviours, environmental impacts and the progress of national level commitments contributing to international climate and biodiversity targets. Tracking these metrics not only monitors progress but also informs awareness campaigns, that can be critical in addressing food insecurity across the country.

Through technological innovation and multi-sectoral partnerships that facilitate and enable sustainable agricultural practices, we can enhance the resilience of our food systems from north to south. The efficient use of resources and targeted support for farmers through subsidies will significantly improve food production, while minimising losses within the value chain will help reduce food waste. This multi-pronged approach will strengthen food security and promote sustainable food systems.

Rabia Tahir is communications director at WWF-Pakistan.

Adil Daniel is regenerative agriculture, food security and water stewardship coordinator at WWF-Pakistan