LAHORE: Since 2006, the food insecure population in Pakistan has increased by 12 million while the number of the severely food insecure population (consuming less than 1,700 kcal per day) has risen by 9.6 million to 45.3 million people - 28 percent of the population. Two thirds of these new severely food insecure people live in rural areas, according to the National Nutrition Survey 2011, a copy of which is available with Daily Times.
    The survey report has been prepared by Agha Khan University, Pakistan Medical Research Council (PMRC), Nutrition Wing, Cabinet Division and supported by UNICEF Pakistan.
    The report found that food insecurity has become one of the major national problems in Pakistan. It states that a report produced by United Nations in 2008 revealed that high food prices have significantly worsened food security in Pakistan. In 2008, 72 million people (51 percent of the population) were food insecure and consumed less than 2,100 kcal per day. The poorest of the poor have been disproportionately affected by the crisis.
    Simulation analysis has shown that the poorest quintile spend 13 percent higher on food than two years ago, whereas the richest quintile’s food expenditure increased by only 5 percent.
    It states that the floods of 2010 in Pakistan have caused widespread destruction, ruined livelihoods, displaced millions, and sparked a food crisis. Food prices have skyrocketed across the country as miles of farmland succumb to the deluge. Food insecurity was rife across the country even before the floods; millions of Pakistanis struggled to access food.
    Back in 2008, the UN estimated that 77 million Pakistanis were hungry and 45 million malnourished. And while many developing nations have begun to recover from the global food crisis of 2007-08, Pakistan’s food fortunes remain miserable. Throughout 2010, Pakistan’s two chief food staples, rice and wheat, have cost 30 to 50 percent more than they did before the global food crisis. Drought, rampant water shortages, and conflict have intensified food insecurity in Pakistan in recent months.
    There is no straightforward, universally accepted definition of food security. Most versions stipulate secure access to sufficient and affordable nutritious food.
It has been estimated that over 900 million people the world over experience the hardship that hunger imposes, a figure which continues to rise even amidst the riches of the 21st century. As world food prices scale new peaks, food insecurity and famine once again dominate humanitarian headlines, barely few years since the last crisis. Engulfed within a vortex of population growth, economic instability and climate change, food security presents a formidable challenge for national and global governance.
    In Pakistan the basic necessity of piped drinking water was accessible to half of the households (50.4 percent), depicting an improvement since last National Nutrition Survey 2001 where 41 percent of the households reported access to tap water. This facility was largely available to the urban population (62.8 percent). Tube-well or boring water was the second most common source of the drinking water (31 percent). Its utilisation was predictably more in rural areas (37.1 percent) as compared to urban (22.3 percent).
    The survey also found that over the last decade consumption of firewood has decreased. At the time of NNS 2011, around 58 percent of the households in Pakistan were still using firewood as the prime source of cooking fuel while the use of firewood was reported to be 66.7 percent in the NNS 2001.
The usage of firewood was more than three times greater in rural area as compared to urban areas (77.4 and 15.5 percent respectively).
    Natural gas was found to be the second main source of cooking fuel as 39.7 percent household were using natural gas for cooking food. This facility was found to be more conveniently available in the urban areas where 83.3 percent were utilising gas. Furthermore the use of animal dung as fuel was observed to be reduced significantly in all parts of Pakistan; only 5.2 percent were using animal dung in the NNS 2011 while in NNS 2001 it was reported to be 14.6 percent. The use of kerosene oil was also reduced substantially from 4 percent to 0.2 percent.

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