Federal Minister of National Food Security and Research, Syed Fakhar Imam, addressed a workshop organized by Islamic Organization for Food Security (IOFS) on “OIC Country Experience in Food Security Governance for Strengthening South-South Cooperation” on 22nd December 2021.

Fakhar Imam said that Pakistan has taken the issue of food insecurity as a top priority and has declared food security as a national security issue by putting food security as the top agenda item in the national security plan.

Pakistan has reduced food and nutritional insecurity from 24 percent in 2014-15 to 18.3 percent in 2019-20 and is engaged in further reduction through agricultural and livestock development, along with livelihood improvement and economic uplift of the general mass, informed the minister.

Fakhar Imam said that the present government is trying its best to address all the four pillars of food security through various initiatives and programs. In this connection, Prime Minister’s Agriculture Emergency Program has been initiated with an allocation of nearly Rs. 285 billion, which primarily focuses on the productivity enhancement of wheat, rice, and sugarcane, with the cost of approximately Rs. 34 billion, oilseeds enhancement program with the cost of about Rs. 10 billion, conserving water through the lining of watercourses with a cost of Rs. 180 billion, enhancing command area of small and mini dams in Barani areas with a cost of Rs. 28 billion, and water conservation in Barani areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with a cost of Rs. 13 billion.

The minister said that to resolve the issue of food security, numerous initiatives have been taken to increase household income, which includes mechanized harvesting of wheat, rice, maize, and fruits, silos for grain storage, a cold storage facility for horticultural commodities, and value-added products through the provision of harvesting machinery for rice, cob and fruits on 50 percent subsidy, exemption of 28 percent import duty and 17 percent GST on the locally manufactured silo, replenishing of SBP’s financing facility for storage of agricultural produce, and development of small scale/cottage industry under Ehsas and Kamyab Jawan Program.

Furthermore, the government has fast-tracked access to credit/finance through registration of farmers and FVOs and women through biometric mapping and Issuance of kissan cards for subsidy and credit. In addition, the import of more than 3 million tons of wheat and 0.3 million tons of sugar during 2020-21 are the preventive steps taken to ensure the food security of the country.

Fakhar said Pakistan has great potential for enhanced productivity of food and Fiber crops but natural hazards such as climate change, floods, desserts locust, and unforeseen calamities like COVID-19 exert great pressure on its stability and sustainability. To make the agricultural sector more stable and sustainable government is planning to cope with these hazards through various actions and mitigation policies.

Source: Pro Pakistani