Excess food disposal: hope in post-Covid Pakistan
Pakistan suffers from a shocking level of hunger (88 out of 132 countries) as per the Global Hunger Index 2020
Food wastage is a serious concern across the globe in terms of economic, environmental, and social aspects. According to a recent UN Environment Programme report, roughly one-third of the global food, approximately 1.3 billion tonnes, is wasted annually.
Pakistan is no exception in this regard. Roughly 36 million tonnes of food is wasted annually with 40% occurring in weddings, parties, and hotels. Alongside, Pakistan suffers from a shocking level of hunger (88 out of 132 countries) as per the Global Hunger Index 2020. According to a 2018 National Nutrition Survey (NNS), 60% of Pakistanis face food insecurity and 15% of children under five suffer from acute malnutrition. About 44% children under five are underdeveloped, 32% are underweight and majority two-year-olds consume less than half their daily energy requirements. T
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Do the governments, Central and state, care? In my view, the lasting contribution of the UPA governments (2004-2014) was lifting 270 million people out of poverty. All other measures and programmes were impactful when they were taken or rolled out, but become part of the normal after some time. For instance, the two-step devaluation done in July 1991 cut the path toward a market-determined exchange rate but, today, a market-determined exchange rate is taken as so normal that describing it as a path-breaking reform (which it was) will hardly cause any eyebrows to be raised.
Persistent poverty and unemployment have terrible consequences. One of them is malnutrition among children. Every government rolls out programmes Integrated Child Development Scheme, Mid-day Meal Scheme, POSHAN Abhiyan and so on. Huge sums of money are allocated in the Budget, and it is claimed they are spent. There is a watchdog agency the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights. Health and nutriti
Worsening of child nutrition calls for immediate and decisive course correction
A complacent approach that assumes that all necessary measures, including the Poshan Abhiyan, are in place and the reversal in progress is only momentary will be a sure way to inflict a debilitating, irreversible impact on children’s nutrition and their well-being. Updated: December 19, 2020 10:14:40 am
The first phase of NFHS-5, held during 2019-2020, covered 17 states and five Union territories.
Did child undernutrition in India worsen during the COVID-19pandemic? The consensus is: yes, most likely. But did we do well in reducing child undernutrition before the lockdown? Surprisingly, the answer is “no”. That child undernutrition in India had begun worsening well before the pandemic is one of the poignant takeaways from the just released key indicators from the first phase of the National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS-5). This is, indeed, a cause for serious
Agriculture has contributed 18.9 percent, since 2010, to the GDP
The agriculture sector has always been a major contributor to the national economy in Pakistan. According to official data, it has contributed 18.9 percent, since 2010, to the GDP (gross domestic product) down from about 40 percent in early ’60s. It provides livelihood to 42.3 percent of the labour force. While agriculture has traditionally been called the backbone of Pakistan’s economic growth, agriculturists say the sector is facing tremendous problems.
Major crops (wheat, rice, sugarcane, maize and cotton) account for 23.60 percent of value addition in agriculture sector and 4.45 percent in the GDP. The other crops account for 10.80 percent in value addition in agriculture sector and 2.04 percent in the GDP.
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