Daily Times

KARACHI: The country continues to face issues affecting food security, including a rise in poverty, growing incidences of food-related diseases, decline in productivity and incomes from traditional crops and global food price surge, agro experts said.

Amidst non-availability of cold storages, inappropriate handlings are responsible for the loss of more than 15 percent of the grains and 45 percent of the fruits and vegetables across the country. Dependence on imported food also attributed to the factors affecting food security in Pakistan. Poor governance and political interventions are some of the major impediments in the way of agricultural development.

The provincial governments are reluctant to share information with members of the society. Moreover, the methodology followed by the government departments for sharing information is obsolete, which often results in wastage of time and resources.

Ineffective governance, lack of information sharing and lack of communication at the grassroots level are the major causes of poor agricultural yields in Pakistan. Agribusiness Support Fund Director Mateen Siddiqui said that government functionaries conceal data in order to hide their corruption. “Food insecurity exists when people do not have physical or economic access to food,” he added.

He said that dearth of workshops to impart agri-based knowledge to growers and lack of research and development facilities were also resulting in low production. There was a dire need to shift focus to intensive farming from extensive farming, he said.

Shakeel Ahmad, chief of the Sindh Agri Forum, said that about 15 percent of water losses could be minimised through the watercourse improvement project, in which lining of water resources would be carried out.

He said that food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs for an active and healthy life.

“Farmers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had started sowing seeds ahead of time. They adapted to climate change without even knowing what it is. Bottom-up agricultural data should be gathered from barefoot doctors,” he stressed.

He said that scientifically designed storages could reduce post-harvest losses by up to 15 percent. “Agriculture contributes to the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) like carbon dioxide (CO2), methane and nitrous oxide. Burning of residues of crops leads to emission of CO2, whereas livestock was the major source of emission of methane and nitrous oxide. Likewise, rain-fed, coastal and mountainous belts are more likely to be affected by adverse impacts of climate change,” he said.

He said that a major part of the harvested fruit is lost during picking, packing and transporting, mainly because of non-availability of resources.

He stressed the need for having seasonal forecast, besides weather forecast on a daily or weekly basis. He suggested that agri-research and scientific technology should be employed for adaptation to and mitigation of climate change impacts.