Table of ContentsThe Theory of Food Security The Current State of Food Security in PakistanThe Reasons Behind the Current Food Security SituationIn the coming years, Pakistan may not even not maintain basic self-sufficiency Land expansion is no longer an optionProtection Actions for Food Security in Pakistan Food security concerns the state of reliable access to a sufficient quantity of nutritious and accessible food. The issue of food security is fundamentally an urgent social problem and has serious economic consequences. First, ensuring food security in the country can entail significant budgetary costs as governments encourage the agricultural sector to achieve food self-sufficiency, as well as to rely on social safety nets (including direct transfers) to keep the purchasing power of the poor intact. If food self-sufficiency is not achieved, the country must bear the balance of payments cost of ensuring food availability. Second, the food security situation is closely linked to the state of the country's human resources. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that high levels of malnutrition will cost an economy around 3 to 4 percent of GDP. For Pakistan, estimates suggest that poverty and its consequences cost the economy 3 percent ($7.6 billion) of GDP each year. In particular, high infant mortality rates, prevalence of zinc and iodine deficiencies, stunting and anemia lead to deficits in physical and mental development that weaken labor productivity and lead to labor loss. future work in the country. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essayThe Theory of Food Security According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the concept food security is flexible but is generally believed to exist "when all individuals have physical, social and economic access to adequate, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active life and healthy at all times. » The main dimensions include: (i) Food availability: Availability of adequate quantities and quality of food provided by domestic production or imports (or aid). Access to food: Individuals have access/right to adequate resources for the acquisition of an appropriate nutritious diet. Stability: The population, household or individual should not be at risk of losing access to food due to sudden shocks (such as the climate crisis) or cyclical events (such as seasonal food shortages). In short, the concept of stability can refer to both the dimensions of availability and access. Utilization: the use of food through appropriate nutrition, clean water, sanitation, and health care to achieve a state of nutritional well-being where all physiological needs are met (this is i.e. illustrates the value of non-food inputs in food security)The current state of food security in PakistanPakistan is currently self-sufficient in major commodities – ranked 8th for industrial wheat, 10th for rice, 5th for sugar cane and 4th for milk production. Despite this, only 63.1% of households in the country are “food secure”, according to the National Survey onnutrition 2018 from the Ministry of Health and Unicef. The survey incorporates the food insecurity expertise scale developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the world organization. size trifurcates insecurity on the following dimensions: delicate (worrying about the power to feed oneself); moderate (compromise on variety/quantity of food and sometimes skipping meals); and severe (experience chronic hunger). Alarmingly, of the 36.9% of Pakistani households labeled as “food insecure”, 18.3% face “severe” food insecurity. KP and Gilgit-Baltistan, across provinces, are comparatively more food secure than Sindh and Balochistan. Furthermore, the latest available FAO estimates suggest that the country lags behind low- and middle-income countries in all four dimensions of food security, with a per capita income of US$1,497, the Pakistan is still grappling with problems such as undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies (iron, calcium, vitamin A, etc.) and drinking water deficit. The per capita consumption of food products with high nutritional value, such as beef, chicken, fish, milk, vegetables and fruits, is almost 6 to 10 times lower than that of developed countries. Food insecurity in Pakistan can primarily be attributed to the limited economic exposure of the poorest and most vulnerable to disruptions in the food chain. This can partly be explained by the prevalence of poverty in the country: almost a quarter of Pakistan's total population lives below the poverty line. (as set at Rs 3,030.3 per adult equivalent per month). Which means that despite their salaries, around 50 million people in the country are unable to meet their basic needs. Most of these people live in rural areas of the country where the poverty rate is 30.7 percent. The prevalence of malnutrition levels among children under 5 (including stunting and wastage) in Pakistan is “significantly higher among the poorest quintiles” of the distribution, according to a World Bank study. expenses. Another factor contributing to food insecurity in the country is the Dependence on Imports Another factor contributing to the food insecurity in the country is the dependence on imports for certain products, which is partly responsible for significant price fluctuations. In addition, the prices of meat and dairy products have increased steadily. In comparison, a vast physical and financial network of government-run commodity operations work within the country to enforce support/indicative prices of major food crops (especially wheat) to ensure their availability. Although these transactions require high budgetary expenditures, they have proven useful in maintaining raw material inventories and stabilizing the prices of these raw materials over the years. This strategy had two major flaws. This strategy had two major impacts that changed consumption habits: food imports increased steadily over the years, worsening the already strained balance of payments. Second, domestic prices of these food products were determined by global trends. While prices of major food crops (wheat, rice, and sugar) have remained fairly constant over the years, prices of minor crops have shown significant seasonal variations in recent years. This, coupled with the fact that the 60 percent of households.