World Food Day 2025, celebrated this month with the theme “Hand in Hand for Better Foods and a Better Future”, serves as a poignant reminder that agri-food systems today face extraordinary pressures from conflict and climate extremes to economic volatility and social inequality. An estimated 673 million people live with hunger, even as food waste, dietary imbalances, and supply chain fragility expose deep flaws in how food is produced, distributed, and consumed. Thus, it is timely to revisit Pakistan’s National Food Security Policy (2018), a framework that promised resilience and self-sufficiency, yet continues to face critical gaps in implementation and equity. It is not merely a document of intent, but a mirror reflecting the country’s preparedness for a sustainable food future.
Pakistan is an agricultural country, and it is imperative to ensure food security for more than 230 million people. Availability and access to food rich in micronutrients are essential for a balanced diet. Food security is defined by four key dimensions, including availability, accessibility, stability, and utilisation. The agriculture sector, along with its sub-sectors such as livestock and fisheries, plays a crucial role in meeting national food security needs.
As far as the politics stream is concerned, the policy lacks political ownership in its implementation
The Food Security Assessment Survey (FSA) 2016 reported that 18% of Pakistan’s population is undernourished, while the National Institute of Population Studies (NIPS) highlighted severe malnutrition issues, including stunting (45%), wasting (15%), and underweight prevalence (30%). Malnutrition rates are particularly high in rural areas (46%), with even more alarming figures in regions such as erstwhile FATA (58%), Gilgit-Baltistan (51%), and Balochistan (52%). Additionally, nearly half of the population consumes less than the recommended dietary intake of Vitamin A & Iron.
Food insecurity in Pakistan is primarily driven by economic constraints and limited access to food, especially among the poorest and most vulnerable populations. Since 2007, rising food prices have further worsened this issue, forcing low-income families to allocate a significant portion of their income to food, thereby increasing their risk of undernutrition and vulnerability. Hence, to cope with these challenges, the Federal Government had chalked out the National Food Security Policy (NFSP), 2018.
The NFSP 2018 is the first policy initiative of the Government of Pakistan to comprehensively deal with the issue of food security. Earlier, the Federal Government had taken a few initiatives, such as the development of the National Zero Hunger Program and the Food Security Assessment Survey, as Pakistan is committed to pursuing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG-1 (No Poverty) and SDG-2 (Zero Hunger).
Following the 18th Constitutional Amendment, the responsibilities of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MINFA) were devolved to the provinces in June 2011. Recognising the continued importance of attaining and maintaining national food security as well as overseeing the functions that remained at the federal level, the Ministry of National Food Security and Research (MNFSR) was established by the Government of Pakistan in October 2011. From its inception, there was a strong recognition within MNFSR of the need for a comprehensive National Food Security Policy. Consequently, the ministry developed the National Food Security Policy 2018 to consolidate past initiatives and outline future strategies in alignment with the SDGs. However, no formal regulatory framework, such as rules, regulations, or parliamentary legislation at either the federal or provincial level, currently exists to support the implementation of this policy.
NFSP 2018 has been analysed from two lenses in this op-ed series ahead, i.e. John Kingdon’s three stream model, and William Richard Scott’s Trichotomy model. Analysis by using John Kingdon’s Three Stream Model
John Kingdon’s Three-Stream Model provides a structured framework for understanding how policies are formed, adopted, and implemented. It conceptualises the policymaking process through three distinct streams, which include the Problem stream to identify key challenges and issues, the Policy stream for formulating potential solutions, and the Politics stream for aligning policies with political priorities.
Kingdon’s Problem Stream: Policy Coverage: NFSP effectively identifies key challenges such as malnutrition, low agricultural productivity, and climate change impacts, all of which are critical to food security. The NFSP has taken up the issue of food insecurity while addressing the four areas, including food availability, food accessibility, food utilisation, and food stability. The policy rightly points out various risk factors which may compromise the environmental sustainability of food production processes. The policy perfectly adheres to the United Nations SDGs, besides recognising financial and external challenges, including restrictions imposed by the IMF on subsidies.
Policy Omissions: The policy did not sufficiently highlight the governance failures, such as inefficiencies in food distribution systems or corruption in agricultural subsidies, which are critical to addressing food security. There was limited emphasis on emerging issues, such as the impact of urbanisation on food systems or the role of food imports in meeting domestic demand.
Kingdon’s Policy Stream: Policy Coverage: The policy stream presented a comprehensive set of solutions, addressing both supply-side, e.g. increasing production and demand-side, e.g. social safety nets issues. It also provides measures to access safe, healthy, and diversified diets through the adoption of good agricultural practices while advocating for a reduction in the use of chemicals and promoting bio-fertilisers and bio-pesticides. The policy also promotes the practices of public health services and treating sewerage & industrial wastewater in collaboration with various government organisations to ensure safe, hygienic, and organic production of food items, including fruits and vegetables. The policy encourages the development of institutional capacity for effective monitoring of food safety aspects of genetically modified organism (GMO) crops, safety standards of imported foods, and certification/accreditation for organic farming, along with implementation of relevant provisions of the National Environment Policy 2005. Further, the policy measures have been developed after thorough consultations with national and international collaborators at all levels.
Policy Omissions: The proposed solutions lacked specificity in implementation mechanisms. For example, it is unclear how small-scale farmers would access modern technology or how climate-resilient practices would be scaled up. The policy stream is heavily focused on technical solutions, with limited attention to structural issues, such as land reforms or the redistribution of resources, which are critical for addressing food insecurity among small farmers and landless labourers.
Kingdon’s Politics Stream: Policy Coverage: The policy demonstrates alignment with Pakistan’s commitment to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 1 (Poverty) and SDG 2 (Zero Hunger). The establishment of a National Food Security Council reflects high-level political commitment to addressing food security issues. The policy also emphasises collaboration among various departments at the federal level, provincial level, international organisations, and other stakeholders to ensure inclusive implementation.
Policy Omission: The policy is driven more by international commitments than domestic political will. At this point, almost seven years have passed since the issuance of this policy, but its full implementation is still a point of concern, which shows a lack of political ownership domestically.
Thus, it has been observed that, as per John Kingdon’s three-stream model, the policy strongly addresses the coverage of the problems stream and policy stream. As far as the politics stream is concerned, the policy lacks the political ownership in its implementation.
(To be concluded)
The writer works at a public policy think tank and can be reached at [email protected].