IN a previous article, it was argued that for Pakistan to manage rampant malnutrition and stunting, it has to implement local solutions. It was conservatively calculated that Pakistan would need excess of USD 500 million per month if we were to give a cash handout of a paltry Pkr 1000/person/month to our food insecure population of more than 100 million people. We recognize that the figure of Pkr 1000 per person to eliminate malnutrition was ridiculously low, and secondly, no donor has USD 500 million to provide to Pakistan. Considering these arguments, Pakistan needs to focus on localized solutions to address its social and economic problems, rather than relying on international handouts. For instance, Pakistan currently wastes 35-40 percent of its fruits and vegetables. Pakistan can achieve nutrition security and economic stability if it was to focus on bringing this produce into the markets through grass root level food processing. Concurrently, we will make our farmers richer as well as healthier.
Pakistan is one of the largest and oldest agrarian societies. Despite the importance and expanse of the agriculture sector in Pakistan – Pakistan is the top ten producers of wheat, rice, sugarcane and milk in the world – more than 50 percent of the country’s households are food insecure. This has led to 44 percent child stunting and wasting. And while fruits and vegetables are an integral part of a balanced diet and while the nation slides into increased malnutrition, Pakistan does little to address its crippling post-harvest losses. This is unconscionable! Not only does this takes away nutrition from the tables, literally, but it has dire economic consequences for the nation. There is a host of other benefits if Pakistan were to focus on creating a vibrant food processing sector. These benefits can be lumped into three broad categories; economic, social & health and environmental.
First are the economic benefits. By one estimate, Pakistan’s post-harvest losses equal $5 billion (value of raw produce), which can be converted to $15 – 20 billion in processed consumables for sale in the domestic and international markets. This will create a multi-billion dollar economic sector for Pakistan. A similar revolution changed the economic trajectory of Thailand which has become one of the top exporters of horticulture produce to the world. Pakistan, which has a much larger agriculture sector, does not account for even one percent of the world’s processed food market.
Second are the social and health benefits. Currently the farmers of Pakistan get one of the lowest returns on their crops due to a lack of value add. Typically, at the time of cultivation, there is a glut in the market of whatever the farmers have to sell, resulting in depressed prices. Fruits and vegetables do not have a long shelf life and there is little choice for the farmers than to sell at the cut-throat price offered by the middle-man. However, literally a few days later, the farmers buy the same edibles for their own consumption at five or ten times the price. For instance, a farmer who sells his onions at Pkr 40/kg at cultivation, ends up paying Pkr 250/kg or higher a few months later. If they processed the onions for their personal consumption, imagine their yearly saving. Furthermore, the price for value added processed onion is three to four times more for the seller, i.e. farmers. So, sixty percent of our population involved in the agri-sector can afford a nutritious diet by consuming what they grow while concurrently tripling their income.
Third are the environmental benefits in the form of spectacular energy savings in many different ways. When fruits and vegetables are solar dried and stored, there is no energy cost related to storage. Currently, produce is put in cold storage which adds exorbitant increase to the price of produce. Furthermore, transportation costs of produce from farm to market is expensive. However, when the produce is solar-dried, transportation costs reduce by one-tenth since dried produce decreases to approximately one-tenths of its original weight. Imagine, one truck instead of ten trucks to transport the same amount of produce and the resulting diesel savings, and further savings in electricity due to reduced cold storage.
Finally, there is tremendous cut in cooking fuel cost affiliated with cooking dried vegetables, which cook at a much faster rate. For instance, when dried onions are used to prepare a dish, the cooking time per family decreases a minimum of one hour per day. Assuming there are 30 million families in Pakistan, this would translate into a saving of 30 million hours per day of cooking fuel. Rather than being ambitious, let us assume that eventually only a third of the families use dried onions to prepare their dishes, the savings will then be 10 million hours per day of cooking fuel. Not bad for an energy starved country.
Pakistan has the ambition to wean itself from international loans. The only way to do it is to create economic sectors that generate benefits for the masses and the country. Grass root agriculture produce and related food processing should be our first area of focus. This can lead to the rise of multi-billion dollar sector, as well as benefits in health and environment. The “sufficiency economy model of development” championed and perfected by the late King Rama IX of Thailand is the perfect model for study and emulation for Pakistan.
—The writer is a former Senior Advisor to the Government.
