Achieving Food Security in Pakistan

Food insecurity is the real problem in developing countries. Worldwide 800 million people are facing hunger and out of total, 299 million people are from South Asia who are food insecure. Pakistan is the second largest nation in South Asia and almost 77 million people are food insecure in the country. There are some critical issues which affect the food security situation. In this study, current situation of food security in Pakistan has been assessed and important policy issues at national and regional levels are discussed which directly or indirectly affect the situation. Pakistan has seven Administrative units including five provinces (Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan) and two federally administrative units (FATA and AJK). Food security situation of all seven units has been assessed to see the net food production in these units, food consumption, deficit/surplus, self-sufficiency and gap between actual food access and national food security line. This study also differentiates between actual and potential food access. In the end, based on Food availability, accessibility and overall food security all seven administrative units are ranked.