Pakistan’s hungry people, angry people

October 16 is observed as the World Food Day across the world. The day was chosen to realise the world about the importance of food; on this day in 1945, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (UN FAO) was founded. According to the UN-FAO, “The day seeks to promote worldwide awareness and action for those who suffer from hunger and for the need to ensure food security and nutritious diets for all”.

Pakistan is one such a country which is full of hungry people and angry people. Here operates a world full of disparities: for one stratum, food is not a problem as for them, food is and will be there; for the other strata, food is a big issue and most of their livelihood issue is to get a two-time staple meal. The strata blessed with having access to food is now concerned with good food and innovative cuisine, regardless of its cost. As Pope Francis says that “throwing away food is like stealing from the table of those who are poor and hungry”, the haves need to ponder the fact that the proper use of food can feed those who struggle with it on a daily basis.

On Lahore’s Guru Managat Road alone, 20 charities serve meals to the poor one. Each charity office sees a long queue of people for who a one-time meal is unaffordable. The World Food Day reminds the policymakers that food is the important indicator of progress. The 2017 Global Hunger Index, released by the International Food Policy Research Institute is enough to open the eyes of intentional policymakers. The agriculture economy has progressed technologically but it fails to meet world’s food requirements. The index tells 52 countries, of 119, fall in ‘serious’ to ‘extremely alarming’ range and the food shortage is alarming in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.

It is depressing for an agrarian country like Pakistan that it not doing better in the food security field. In Asia, Pakistan stood only ahead of Afghanistan with a GHI score of 32.6. Our children are malnourished and are stunted for being underfed. Poverty is a big issue in lack of access to food while poor agriculture policies, lack of irrigation water and tragedies like floods and climate change are other factors contributing to hunger. The households with quite enough food also face food-related problems because of the lack education, awareness on the properly balanced food.

Before they go to the bed tonight, policymakers, government functionaries, politician, and overall haves should ask themselves: who is responsible for the people who will go the bed without a proper meal tonight?

We may get a variety of answers: first, those going to the bed unfed are themselves responsible for their hunger. Their large families or lack of education and resource may be contributing factors. Before these answers get our nod, we need to read the The World Food Day facts: The right to food is a basic human right; There can be no quality of life without ending hunger and without having sustainable and resilient, climate-compatible agriculture and food systems that deliver for the people and the planet; and The world produces enough food to feed everyone, yet, about 800 million people suffer from hunger. That is one in nine people. Sixty percent of them are women.

Any food for thought for us?