Price hikes spread food insecurity fears in Pakistan

LAHORE, Aug 27 (Express Tribune): Recent flooding coupled with an expected hike in price for raw materials has raised an alarm in the agriculture sector of Pakistan, depicting a bleak picture for the future of food security in the country.
Food security, as defined by the United Nations' Committee on World Food Security, means that all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their food preferences and dietary needs for an active and healthy life.
This, however, is largely meant for the modern world. Unfortunately, for the masses in Pakistan, nutritious means whatever is available to them. Stakeholders have warned of things becoming messier in the agriculture sector. "Pakistan has to spend billions of dollars next year to secure its population from hunger as the recent floods have destroyed almost everything," said Pakistan Kissan Ittehad President Khalid Khokhar talking to the Express Tribune. Khokhar highlighted that the cotton crop along with wheat and seasonal vegetables has been destroyed, as the fields in Balochistan and Sindh have been severely damaged due to heavy rains.
"These floods are much more disastrous than the 2005 earthquake and 2010 floods, farmer's crops have been lost and they do not have money to pay their debts and to think of harvesting the upcoming crop," Khokhar said. Hikes in different input costs such as electricity bills, different phosphorus, and fertilisers remain an additional burden for the farmer community. He lamented that "the electricity bills have made lives miserable as the community is paying a per unit cost starting from Rs40 per unit and up to Rs200 due to different taxes and fuel adjustment prices".