Food security under threat despite surplus food

Despite the country is enjoying surplus crops especially of wheat and rice, the food security seems extremely chaotic, as high inflation, declining income, unequal distribution of resources and stagnating domestic productivity are hampering attempts to achieve food security.
Experts are critically examining this situation giving a warning that the country’s food security is under threat due to the shallow approach of the economic managers.
Pakistan Agriculture Scientists Association Chairman Jamshed Iqbal Cheema said that there is a significant increase in the number of food insecure people in Pakistan, which now stands at 51 per cent of the total population as compared to about 22 per cent six years back; this is largely due to decline in agricultural production, especially in the Punjab, caused by ill-conceived policies.
He said that investment in agriculture sector not only ensures food security of any country but also help to produce a healthy nation besides promoting rule of law in the society. Farming is just not a profession but an effort to save 194 million people of Pakistan from hunger.
Keeping in view the population growth, Pakistan needs 50 percent more agricultural production by 2025 and it can only be done by strengthening the agricultural sector and promoting good agricultural practices for maximum per acre yield.
He was of the view that the government should reduce the input cost by waiving taxes on the inputs and bringing down diesel and electricity prices. He was of the view that it would enhance usage of quality seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and other inputs which would result in better production thus ensuring more grain for ever increasing population of Pakistan.
PASA Chairman believed that undernourished Pakistani population were reduced to two meals a days from three meals. Due to increase in input cost, the per head person cost of Pakistani has increased to Rs 3,000 per month, Cheema said and added that due to increase in this cost people were compromising their meals to manage the other day to day affairs.
He said average family size in Pakistan was 5.5 persons which mean a family have to spend Rs 16,500 per month to ensure three meals a day.
He regretted that Pakistan which is attributed as basically agricultural country lacks in provision of sufficient food and it is in the ranks of those countries which have low grains per capita for its citizens.
Agri Forum Pakistan Chairman, Ibrahim Mughal, while commenting on the food security in Pakistan said that it happened first time in the history of Pakistan that despite food surplus, shortage and price hike has been created several times during last one decade. While farmer is producing more and more wheat but not getting any benefit,” he commented.

Source: The Nation

Food Shortage in Pakistan

Saturday, July 20, 2013  By:  Baqar Shah

I venture to put my proposal to fight hunger, before I pen my suggestions, I fear

That this Summer, we might have to face floods, due heavy snow this winter. We have not thought about it.. If it comes, then we will start the rescue operation. . Why not nip it in the bud. Building Dams, help in production of Electricity as a heavy cost and time. It does not control floods.  Here are my proposals.

This year we may face more flooding, due heavy show this winter. Result rivers will overflow, break banks, flood  our agricultural lands. Then we start the rescue operation.

Before this situation arises, why not prepare for it before hand and avoid such a situation.  How ?

To my mind the solution is to build artificial lakes, which cost less than building dams, repair canals and so on.

These artificial lakes can then filled with flood waters, which can be used at times when water is needed, especially in dry season.

It may be seen as a simple solution,

Yet it is the best solution, to save our agriculture.

How to fight inflation

In order to fight the spiral rise in cost of consumable items, we have to find ways and means to hold it down

“god help those who help themselves”

Utility stores are not the only solution.

There are other means too.

Ways to solve the problem this problem

Is as follows

1. Conservation of food. You must have observed that how much cooked food is wasted at home, parties & hotels.   These could be preserved by food dehydartors available both for domestic & commercial purposes. You can store these foods for one year without refrigeration. Likewise it could be used commercially to produce dehydated food for marketingdomestic dehyderators are available at us $ 30-40

2. Vegetables.  The district administration, could 1/3 of the parks, gardens to grow vegetables and sell it at a low cost. It is bound to bring down the cost and induce other dealers to bring down prices in competition

3. Poultry  to bring the cost of poultry, we use kerosene incubators for hatching for deshi murghees. These cost low .sould be distributed to the poor and sold by them it will be their source of income and will  bring down the market prices.

4.food grains  to preserve food grains & lenthils use clove a little to preserve it for a longer preiod. It is higly antiseptic.

Copyright: agrinfobank.com

Agriculture and Poverty

FOR those of us who live in urban areas, the depths of poverty can be measured, for instance, by what a typical urban-poor family eats. In most cases, it’s just rice and vegetables, or fish, for lunch or dinner. The desperately poor make do with rice and salt, or its variant, rice and soy sauce. That’s what they can afford from scavenging from garbage dumps for recyclables, which gives them, on a good day, about P100, more or less. Still, others make do with eating pagpag, or scrap chicken from fast-food chains, which can be bought dirt-cheap.
But how do poor urban dwellers compare in terms of earnings to farmers and fishermen in rural areas?
Not much, according to the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB). The wages and salaries received by those in agriculture are comparable to those of private households with employed persons (i.e., domestic help) at P138.99 per day, the NSCB said.
In short, farmers and fishermen are in the same economic category as domestic workers and just a notch higher than the scavengers in urban areas.
Which brings us to the assertion of the NSCB that the declining share of agriculture in the Philippine economy could be a reason for the country’s high poverty incidence.
According to the agency, the share of the agriculture sector in the Philippine economy significantly declined to only 11.1 percent in 2012. Compare that to 1946, when the sector accounted for about a third, or 29.7 percent, of the economy. That’s a one-third decline that puts at grave risk the nation’s food security.
Most of the poor are in agriculture despite the efforts of previous administrations to boost agricultural modernization, provide more agricultural inputs and implement agrarian reform. In the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, for instance, agriculture accounts for 63 percent of its economy, while poverty incidence in the region remains one of the highest in the country at 45.6 percent in 2009.
Economists have long pointed out that because of government neglect of agriculture, farmers and fishermen have remained among the poorest in the country. Wonder no more, therefore, that the exodus of people from the countryside to urban centers such as Metro Manila in search of a better life continues unabated, only for them to discover that life in the big city is not a bed of roses and could even be worse than before, with some of them having to eat from discards from trash cans.
Would an increase in government support for agriculture lead to lower poverty rates? That’s the obvious conclusion, and the government, if it is really committed to inclusive growth, should begin putting more attention to the countryside and improving the lives of our farmers and fishermen. World Agriculture.
Source: Business Mirror

FOOD SHORTAGE IN PAKISTAN

I venture to put my proposal to fight hunger, before i pen my suggestions, i fear that this summer, we might have to face floods, due heavy snow this winter. We have not thought about it.. If it comes, then we will start the rescue operation. . Why not nip it in the bud. Building dams, help in production of electricity as a heavy cost and time. It does not control floods. Here are my proposals.

This year we may face more flooding, due heavy show this winter. Result rivers will overflow, break banks, flood our agricultural lands. Then we start the rescue operation.

Before this situation arises, why not prepare for it before hand and avoid such a situation. How ?

To my mind the solution is to build artificial lakes, which cost less than building dams, repair canals and so on.

These artificial lakes can then filled with flood waters, which can be used at times when water is needed, especially in dry season.

It may be seen as a simple solution, yet it is the best solution, to save our agriculture.
How to fight inflation

in order to fight the spiral rise in cost of consumable items, we have to find ways and means to hold it down

“god help those who help themselves”

utility stores are not the only solution.
There are other means too.


Ways to solve the problem this problem
is as follows

1. Conservation of food. You must have observed that how much cooked food is wasted at home, parties & hotels. These could be preserved by food dehydrators available both for domestic & commercial purposes.
You can store these foods for one year without refrigeration. Likewise it could be used commercially to produce dehydrated food for marketing domestic dehydrators are available at us $ 30-40

2. Vegetables. The district administration, could 1/3 of the parks, gardens to grow vegetables and sell it at a low cost. It is bound to bring down the cost and induce other dealers to bring down prices in competition

3. Poultry to bring the cost of poultry, we use kerosene incubators for hatching for deshi murghees. These cost low .should be distributed to the poor and sold by them it will be their source of income and will bring down the market prices.

4. Food grains to preserve food grains & lentils use clove a little to preserve it for a longer period. It is highly antiseptic.

Baqar Shah BAQAR SHAH BAQAR SHAH Visit My Site

Baqar Shah retired from St. Patrick's High School , He is active guest author of Agriculture Information Bank, He like gardening and like to share gardening information with others