Amrtya Sen writes that there is nothing like apolitical famine, meaning issue of food insecurity can only be tackled through a right set of policies and political will to implement those policies. A lot has been said and written about some of the policy measures that may be taken to improve food security situation in Pakistan. Few of these policies worked, few did not work, and most produced a mixed result.  Having said it, let us recall the few important developments which took place on food security front in recent past in Pakistan.

The first good news is that there is a dedicated ministry of National Food Security and Research in Pakistan. The second good news is that it is gradually becoming clear to policy makers in Pakistan that food security is not only getting self-sufficiency in food production [food availability] but it also has two other equally important pillars, i.e., [socio-economic] access to food and food utilisation.

The third good news is that the then Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gillani in March 2012 launched an initiative "Zero Hunger Programme" which aimed to provide ready to use nutritious food to the breast feeding mothers, under five year age children and expecting mothers in the most food insecure districts.

The PPP government also announced to establish a "national food security council (NFSC)". The fourth good news is that current government also promised to revive that "national food security council" to tackle the multi-dimensionality of food insecurity in Pakistan. The fifth good news is that as per SDPI-WFP-FAO-and UNICEF’s forthcoming "Food Security Analysis 2013" the state of food availability in Pakistan has improved over the last five years.  During this period, Pakistan has emerged as a surplus wheat producing country, and production of rice and maize has also increased considerably.

The first bad news is that a dedicated federal ministry of food security would not be able to offer much help on improving  food security which is dependent on

i) availability of food which is a function of agriculture, livestock, and agri-marketing.

ii)socio-economic access which requires livelihood generation opportunities, social safety nets, and poverty reduction strategies.

And iii) on food utilization which means getting food assimilated in once body for which health, sanitation, clean drinking water, and education are prerequisites.

Unfortunately the prerequisites of all of the above mentioned three pillars of food security are now provincial functions after the 18th amendment. This means we would have to find a constitutional way of linking federal food security ministry with different provincial ministries which deal with agriculture, irrigation, livestock, health, and other social sector ministries.

The second bad news is that zero hunger program could never took off. PM Gillani announced it but could never get any funding allocated for it in Federal budget 2012-13. Since then, this program which had tremendous potential to take care of immediate food security threats is lying in files waiting for some allocation.

The third bad news is that despite the fact that  promise to establish a "national food security council" was  made by two consecutive governments, the notification of committee members is still pending.

The fourth bad news is that as per SDPI-WFP-FAO report despite improvement in food availability, its socio-economic access got deteriorated. In spite of Pakistan’s growth in national food production, many households are not benefitting from that upward trend and there are indications that food security has declined in notable ways for the poorest and most vulnerable parts of the population.

Half of the Pakistani population (50.6 per cent) is caloric energy deficient i.e., consumes less than adequate calories required for healthy living (2,100 kcals per day), which is the internationally recommended threshold. In GB and FATA, more than half are consuming fewer than 1,740 kcals and 35 per cent fewer than 1,500 kcals. The energy consumption situation is also serious in Balochistan and Sindh.

The report which draws heavily on the findings from the national level food security survey (FSA 2013) of 14,265 households while incorporating the findings of several important datasets including the Household Integrated Economic Survey (HIES) 2010/11, the Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement (PSLM) Survey 2011/12 and the National Nutrition Survey (NNS) 2011 also reveal that about 40 per cent of households had experienced a shock since 2010 and 28 per cent reported that they had problems meeting basic food needs as a result, peaking at 42.8 per cent in Sindh followed by FATA and Balochistan. Price hikes followed by natural disasters (chiefly flooding) and conflict were the main shocks experienced.

Such shocks compel poor families to use coping mechanisms that further erode their resilience such as shifting to less desirable or less expensive food (81 per cent of households), limiting portion size at meals (59.3 per cent), borrowing money (42.4 per cent), restricting consumption by adults to provide food to small children (28.3 per cent) and skipping meals (31.8 per cent). Some 24.2 per cent reported that women were consuming less to feed children or male members -- a very significant expression of intra-household discrepancy in food access.

Around 5 per cent of households resorted to consuming seed stocks reserved for the next planting season, selling domestic or productive assets, and removing children from school.

According to the 2011 National Nutrition Survey, Pakistan is facing a silent crisis of malnutrition that is amongst the worst in the world and has not improved for decades. Some 43.7 per cent of children under five years old -- or around 10 million children -- are stunted (or chronically malnourished), a prevalence considered ‘critical’ by WHO thresholds. In rural areas stunting is higher (46.3 per cent) than in urban (36.9 per cent). Levels peak at 57.6 per cent in FATA, followed by Balochistan, GB and Sindh where more than half of young children are stunted.

Some 15.1 per cent of under fives (around 3.5 to 3.7 million children) are wasted (weight too low for height), indicating a ‘critical’ acute malnutrition situation according to the WHO’s 15 per cent threshold and almost double the 1997 prevalence (8.6 per cent). Again it is more prevalent in rural areas (16.1 per cent) than urban (12.7 per cent) and above 16 per cent in AJK, Sindh, KP and Balochistan.

The price of food has steadily increased since 2008, rising more sharply in the last couple of years. The food security of poorer households is hit hardest by rising prices. The casual wage labour rate has not kept up with the price increase in cereals, particularly in the last year. The most food insecure and malnourished tend to be poor rural households that have been impacted by food price inflation, repeated natural disasters (chiefly floods) or insecurity. Wage labourers, the uneducated and socially excluded are most likely to be trapped in poverty and therefore most vulnerable.

There is a clear link between household food security status and education levels of the household head. Better educated women with more knowledge of nutrients and micronutrients, as well as food preparation and hygiene, are more likely to improve the nutritional situation of the whole family. According to the FSA 2013, 77.1 per cent of women surveyed have no education compared to 43 per cent of male heads of households. The figure rises to 83.3 per cent of women in rural areas.

To determine the overall food utilisation situation for all districts across the country, a weighted composite index was used on the basis of access to safe drinking water, access to sanitation facilities, female education, and complete immunisation coverage of children obtained from secondary data collected from districts in 2012. Based on this the food utilisation situation is poorest in FATA and Balochistan.

The multiple dimensions of food and nutrition security are influenced by and equally impact multiple sectors in Pakistan. Thus, efforts to address food insecurity and under-nutrition require addressing the social, economic, educational, agricultural, political and security dimensions. I have used these pages to say many times that insecurity breeds insecurities.

Food insecurity leads to human insecurity which, in turn, can threaten regional, national and global securities. It is about time that all stakeholders start working to enhance collective political will not only to formulate right set of policies but also for an effective implementation of those policies.

One should remember that when individual insecurities get any collective identity, be it class, sect, ethnicity, provincial, or rural/urban can immediately lead to clash between the haves and have nots. Pakistan is already passing through turbulent times and cannot afford any aggravation of such clashes.

World Food Day is observed on Oct 16