Food Insecurity in Pakistan

 
 
 
Posted by: IIPS Category: Data Visualisation Comments: 0

According to the United Nations, food security is the social, physical, and economic access to sufficient and hygienic food which meets the nutritional needs of a given population. This is the minimum amount of food that is needed to maintain a mentally and physically healthy life.

The Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement (PSLM) survey was conducted to collect information from different urban and rural localities in areas of education, health, food availability, and poverty in general.

The survey covered 176,000 households across urban and rural areas, which makes it a good measure of the country’s diverse population. Food insecurity was measured on the basis of the number of households suffering from a lack of financial resources to buy adequate food, the availability of nutritious food, and the number of people who remain hungry over a limited period of time.

In the 12th round of PSLM survey since 2004 for measuring Pakistan’s performance on the Sustainable development Goals, results of the survey revealed that in Pakistan 16.3% of the people remain food insecure.

Food insecurity has detrimental effects on the collective and individual health of the masses. Although Pakistan is primarily an agrarian economy it has not been able to become self-sufficient in areas of food security.

Government should direct its efforts towards eradicating food insecurity to ensure the healthy development of the Pakistani people.

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IMARAT Institute of Policy Studies

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