Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Thursday that food security will be the biggest challenge the country will face in the coming years, adding that Pakistan must take steps now to protect its population in the future from food shortages.
Address to the National Kissan Convention in Islamabad, the premier explained the nature of the problem, wherein he stated the country had been forced last year alone to import 4 million tonnes of wheat to meet a shortfall.
“The expense of that was paid in foreign exchange, in a country that is already short of dollars,” remarked PM Imran Khan.
Remarking on the unsustainability of such a method, the PM asked how they would create food for the public in the years to come given the rapidly increasing size of the population.
The premier said that it was necessary to raise awareness about food security and that Pakistan should start taking measures to tackle the problem from today.
“If we want to save our nation from the challenges ahead [we need to see that] food security in reality [has become] national security,” said PM Imran Khan.
He noted that around 40 percent of children in the country did not reach their full height nor did their brain develop fully because they did not receive enough nutrition.
“Food security is actually national security,” he emphasised, saying the government in order to address the issue of stunting was bringing a nutrition programme through Ehsaas for the first time.
He elaborated that the plan will focus on ensuring that the diet of children till the age of three is complete so they are not stunted.
The premier said that if they remain stunted then the children will be “left behind in the race of life as their brain and body will not be developed”. PM Imran Khan also lamented that Pakistani children often got “contaminated” milk, which aggravated the stunted situation.
“[Just] think, our kids are not getting pure milk and that is their most basic need for growth,” said PM Imran Khan. He also said that when the government further investigated the problem, it found that the cows in Pakistan were producing lesser milk than those in other countries.
The restrictions to control such issues had led to price increases and that showed Pakistan’s milk production lagged behind other countries. The premier said a simple solution to this was to import good quality bull semen from abroad which could improve the genes of local cattle.
The prime minister said that the government then realised that it was because the country never worked on improving the genes of the cows. He added that it was all because of the “elite capture”.
Elaborating further, he said that a small section of the society “captured” the country when it was created.
The leaders that we got did not work on inclusivity, he said. adding that there is a separate education system for the rich.
Public hospitals have been destroyed and private hospitals have improved. Regarding the justice system he said that if you hire an expensive lawyer, then there is justice, he said.
The prime minister said that the country’s agriculture sector faced the same issue when Pakistan was created. He added that the farmers in Pakistan there were mostly small landowners and they were not helped.
Imran Khan said that the state of Madinah was the first to help the lower class while China was the first to lift 700 million people out of poverty in 35 years. He said China helped small farmers to develop the country, we should have helped our small farmers first.
“China also had small land hold owners and they helped the small farmers as there was poverty in the villages,” said PM Imran. He lamented that Pakistan did not do the same thing 74 years ago.
He also gave the example of Israel and how it had successfully managed to cultivate a desert environment and take it to new heights.
PM Imran Khan reiterated that if Pakistan continues its current trajectory, food security “will turn into national insecurity”. He said that if 30 to 40 percent are left hungry then “they will bring the whole nation down”.
“A nation that does not fulfil the diet of its people should be punished,” said the prime minister. He added, “The country wasn’t made for everyone [and] a small segment captured all resources and no one tried to change it.”
The premier said that the steps being taken by the government today are taken with a view that Pakistan becomes a food exporter rather than food insecure.
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