In the name of food security

The wheat procurement frenzy is here! The federal and provincial governments appear all set to pile up fresh wheat. Hundreds of billions of Rupees are being borrowed through banking consortia for this mammoth exercise. Passco, the federal grain agency, will be actively seeking fresh supplies even as it sits on a surplus of around one million tons, nearly half of which is older than two years now.
The government would like to think that it is ensuring food security through its heavy footprint in the staple food commodities market. One needs to ask a few questions. How does securing the wheat produce, way above and well beyond the states financial and administrative capacities, correlate with food security? Does an increase in wheat production automatically lead to increase in dietary intakes or consumption?
Since its inception, Pakistan has mostly been self-sufficient in wheat production. But has the population been fed adequately, especially those lying on the fringes of the social strata? What about recent years when the countrys wheat harvest increased considerably, albeit due to higher support prices? Did that make food any more accessible (or affordable) to the vulnerable people, including those in urban areas?
Apparently not! The latest National Nutrition Survey (2011) revealed that 57 percent of households across Pakistan remain food insecure. Almost 50 percent of women and children were found to be malnourished. International humanitarian agencies, including the Unicef, treat household food insecurity as a major cause of severe malnutrition.
The malnutrition indicators for children are no less disturbing. For instance, the survey found stunting - a manifestation of severe malnutrition - in nearly every other child in Pakistan. Wasting - which is an acute state of malnutrition whereby a debilitating disease causes muscle and fat tissue to waste away - was reported in 13 percent of the children.
Back in 2005, the FAO had cited malnutrition as the most aggravating factor in respiratory and intestinal infections among Pakistani children, responsible for over half of under-five mortality rates. And that was then. There is little reason to doubt that the recent years triple whammy of soaring inflation, natural disasters, and internal displacements would have made the situation much worse.
Besides the social perils, a predominantly food insecure population also weighs heavy on the economic strength of a country. In 2004, the UNs Standing Committee on Nutrition found out that Pakistans economy lost a stupendous three to four percent of GDP every year on account of malnutrition pertaining to protein-energy, iodine and iron deficiencies.
The situation needs some serious rethinking by the policymakers. To start with, the paradigm of food security needs to be reassessed, and focus must be placed on the consumption aspect, too. Otherwise, there is very little the millions of tons of wheat can offer to every other Pakistani that is food insecure.
According to the FAO, the diet cereals (mainly wheat) are the main staple food in Pakistan, providing 62 percent of total energy needs. Wheat is a highly nutritious food - rich in proteins, carbohydrates, dietary fiber, fat, and other minerals - and is the best hedge against malnutrition. The wheat requirements of the country need to be reassessed, and the government should procure according to targeted priorities only.
The federal government has recently committed 0.5 million tons of wheat, valued at 144 million dollars, to the WFP to combat malnutrition in the country. The wheat will be processed into nutritious food items, like wheat flour, high energy biscuits and fortified pastes, and then distributed among six million malnourished children, pregnant women and primary school children.
Reportedly, the federal government is making provisions in the FY13 budget to introduce school feeding in the most food insecure districts, and nutrition programmes for under-five children and pregnant women.
Such initiatives are highly appreciated; however they need to be undertaken on a continued, sustainable basis. Perhaps measures like these can potentially lead to greater food security in the country, but certainly not the over-zealous push for inadvertently amassing wheat stocks every year.