Pakistan ranked 4th from the bottom in hunger index

[Naveed Yaseen]

Myra Imran
Pakistan scored fourth from the bottom, below Bangladesh and Nepal, in a global scorecard on the state of hunger released by ActionAid on the World Food Day.

The report card for 51 nations looks at not just the prevalence of hunger, but also at what the governments are doing by way of policy to fight hunger. Pakistan scores 24 points and is ranked 26th on the list of 29 developing countries.

The scorecard report shows that China, ranked second out of the developing countries, cut hunger numbers by 58 million in 10 years through strong state support for smallholder farmers.

Ranked fifth in the scorecard, even Malawi, one of the poorest countries in the world, and burdened with a devastating HIV epidemic — has reaped rich results within three short years. Through a massive boost of investment to small-scale farmers, it has trebled production to halt a famine that threatened to leave nearly a third of its population hungry.

Out of 29 developing nations, Brazil ranks top, China second, Ghana third, Vietnam fourth and Malawi fifth. Democratic Republic of Congo is at the bottom. Out of 22 developed countries, the UK ranks eighth, Denmark fifth, Netherlands seventh, France ninth, Italy 14th, Greece 16th, Australia 17th and the US 21st. Luxembourg is top and New Zealand is at the bottom.

The report says that while the Pakistani Constitution explicitly mentions the right to food, this is not yet backed up by effective legislation. Rising food prices, especially of sugar, stagnant incomes and growing unemployment have worsened the food security situation.

It mentions that the proportion of hungry in the country has swelled and child malnutrition remains very high at 31 per cent.

“Even Punjab, the breadbasket of Pakistan, has struggled to protect its population against high food prices and low household incomes.

“The government needs to invest more in agriculture so that small farmers and agricultural workers that produce food also have it on their plates.

“Women’s ownership and control of land is also necessary as according to FAO, 60 per cent of the world’s hungry are women and girls,” says Javeria Malik, ActionAid Pakistan ‘s spokesperson.

She said that safety net programmes like the Benazir Income Support Programme were important initiatives but more social protection programmes must be brought to the forefront of the battle against hunger.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=203585