ISLAMABAD: The government attaches great importance to food security and has taken a number of initiatives including agriculture and food security policy with sharper focus on productivity enhancement, value addition and ensuring better return to the farmers particularly small farm holders.
Federal Minister for National Food Security Sikandar Hayat Khan Bosan stated this while addressing Food Security Session of Sustainable Development Conference jointly organised by SDPI, FAO, and IFAD & WFP.
The minister claimed that Pakistan had made some remarkable progress in different areas including agriculture and food security over the past decades.
The minister said, with regard to the agricultural sector, Pakistan was now producing enough food for its population and also exporting significant quantities of various food commodities, including, rice, fruits and livestock products.
Boson, however, emphasized the need for more strenuous efforts to ensure every Pakistani had access to safe and nutritious food. This has particularly been a challenge for the poor sections of the society, and the problem has been exacerbated by various shocks, particularly the frequent natural disasters.
The minister said that Pakistan’s joining of scaling up nutrition (SUN) movement, and the initiation of national zero hunger and family farming programme. Energy, water and food security are identified as one of the seven important pillars in the Vision 2025 document announced by the government where the aim is to reduce the proportion of food insecure population (FIP) from 60% to 30%.
