PAKISTAN is one of the largest and oldest agrarian societies. The World Bank puts the total workforce of Pakistan at 79 million (2022 figures). Off this number, Stastica reports that approximately 37% percent of Pakistan’s workforce is involved in the agriculture sector. The actual number is probably much higher since substantial farmers in the agriculture sector are not counted since they are not “laborers” per se but self-employed farmers and their family members working on their lands. In any case, even if we accept the World Bank numbers, the breakdown would be 30 million workers, of which 19 million are women.
Despite the importance and expanse of the agriculture sector in Pakistan whereas Pakistan is the top ten producers of wheat, rice, sugarcane and milk in the world, 63 percent of the country’s households are food insecure, leading to the prevalence of 44 percent child stunting in Pakistan. On the surface, Pakistan seems to take the issue of food security seriously – it is perhaps among a few countries in the world with a dedicated “Ministry of Food Security.”
Additionally, consecutive regimes as well as the international partners of Pakistan continue to work towards increasing food security in Pakistan, yet the results continue to backslide. There are many reasons for this which can be discussed ad nauseam, but one of the biggest reasons is our lack of motivation and self-reliance to find a local solution.
Consecutive governments have expected international donors and partners such as WFP, UNICEF, FAO, BMGF, USAID, UK AID, JICA, EU, etc., to design and fund the solution. That is simply not the fix and the expectation is impractical. No outside partner or group has the resources to fund nutrition for a nation of 250 million. Only Pakistan can do it for itself.
It is not that Pakistan’s international partners are not sincere in assisting Pakistan. In fact, they are diligently working through a myriad of initiatives to assist the country. The projects are funding government programs such as BISP, providing cash to the marginalized and nutrition supplements for expecting mothers and children, funding fortification of flour and edible oils, and much more. However, these efforts will not impact Pakistan substantially because as mentioned earlier, Pakistan is too large – 250 million people. The world cannot solve our problems because the resources are simply not there as the back of envelope figures elaborate below.
If we are to go with the estimate that 63% of our households are food insecure, that would account for around 157 million people. Now, if we were to provide a paltry Rs1000 per person, per month in support (cash or in kind) to help them get better nutrition, that would require approximately Rs. 157 billion per month (USD 560 million) or USD 6.7 billion per year. First, the figure of Rs 1000 per person per month to elevate nutrition is ridiculously low, and secondly, the donor has USD 560 million per month to provide to Pakistan. Considering this, our way forward towards a healthy nation has to be based on home grown, local solutions. And, it has to use the agriculture value chain as the foundation.
Let us explore just one link of the agriculture value chain, namely horticulture (fruits and vegetables), and how it can change the mal-nutrition and stunting landscape of Pakistan. Fruit and vegetable consumption provides us with a substantial portion of our daily nutrition – carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals.
Fruits and vegetables are also an integral part of a balanced diet. Yet, while the nation slides into increased mal-nutrition, Pakistan throws away 35-40 percent of its horticulture produce through post-harvest losses. Not only does this take away nutrition from the tables, literally, but it has dire economic consequences for the farmers as well as the nation. By one estimate, the post-harvest losses equal $5 billion in value of raw produce, which can be converted to $15 billion in processed edibles for domestic and international consumption.
Creating a proper horticulture processing value chain, particularly introducing food processing through solar drying at the farmer level, is a key local solution to minimize food insecurity, malnutrition and stunting. Additionally, it will substantially increase the income of the farmers, particularly the women who are the majority of the workforce. Increased income will lead to additional nutrition benefits for the family.
Furthermore, additional benefits will include reducing inflation since produce dried at harvesting time freezes the end-user price since transportation and cold storage costs are curtailed, and much more. There is an array of other benefits, economic and social, which will be realized if we expeditiously work on developing the local solution to the nutrition value chain, which will be discussed in a subsequent article. (To be continued.)
—The writer is a former Senior Advisor to the Government and a sector development specialist.
views expressed are writer’s own.
