National Food Security Policy.

This National Food Security Policy is the first comprehensive document aiming at achieving food security and nutrition goals through sustainable development of the agriculture sector. It focuses on enhancing food availability, improving food access, enabling food utilization and ensuring food stability at all levels to reach the declared Vision of a food secure Pakistan. It is therefore a sectoral document that uses a cross-sectoral approach connecting agriculture, food security, climate change and market services. Main goals of the Policy are (i) alleviate poverty, eradicate hunger and malnutrition; (ii) promote sustainable food production systems (crop, livestock and fisheries) by achieving an average growth rate of 4% per annum; and (iii) make agriculture more productive, profitable, climate resilient and competitive. To reach the aforementioned goals, a series of objectives are laid out, mainly (i) improve the quality, quantity, and timing of supply of agricultural inputs; (ii) reduce the cost of production of agriculture; (iii) use natural resources (land, water, range lands, pastures, and forests) in a sustainable manner; (iv) diversify food systems for better diets and nutrition; (v) improve the rate of diffusion of technological innovations; (vi) address exploitative market practices and take actions on the lack of storage and value addition facilities, main responsible for the poverty in the rural areas; and (vii) intervene on investment and research to improve the public, private, and foreign investments.
Main measures to help eliminate hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition are (i) achieve a dietary diversity through promoting value-chain driven agricultural diversification (dairy development, pulses, oil seeds, horticulture, fisheries and aquaculture); (ii) initiate special programs for reducing poverty and hunger as per government’s commitment towards SDGs; (iii) develop innovations for improving food systems to produce nutritious and healthy food; (iv) reduce food losses along production and supply chain including post-harvest losses; (v) introduce targeted food distribution schemes (school feeding programs, cash transfers, zero hunger shops in low income areas); (vi) develop nutrition program for children under 5 years of age, and pregnant and lactating mothers; and (vii) provide for food subsidy on wheat flour and its transportation to the poor people of far flung areas.
To make agriculture more productive and sustainable, the Policy envisages (i) promotion of cropping pattern and climate smart agriculture practices with maximum water productivity; (ii) adoption of soil and water conservation technologies, enhanced use of high efficiency irrigation systems, and development of drought resistant varieties; (iii) increasing the productivity of major crops for diverting saved natural resources for the production of other high value crops; (iv) introduction of new species of high value fruit crops like olive, pistachio, almond, kiwi, grapes and dates; (v) development of high value products to reduce post-harvest losses, increase availability during off-seasons and to promote rural businesses; (vi) strengthening of research facilities for the development of hybrids of potential crops; (vii) development of village based seed enterprises, seed banks and fruit plant nurseries; and (viii) promotion of the production of compost as organic fertilizer and improvement of regulatory support system for pesticide import and distribution. As for fisheries and livestock improvement, the interventions are directed to (i) a development for high value fish farming in warm-water areas (including in saline inland and barren coastal areas); (ii) establishment of fish feed production units and fish hatcheries; (iii) promotion of the commercial poultry production, lesser duties on imported poultry inputs and processing machinery used in value added industry; and (iv) support measures for small poultry farming segment.
Rural poverty reduction shall be enhanced through (i) improving access to food of rural poor by providing off-farm employment opportunities on substantial scale while specifically focusing on rural poor and women folk; (ii) promoting innovative livelihood practices, i.e., medicinal plants, fisheries, bee-keeping, local food products, seed production, rural poultry, and raising nurseries etc; (iii) promotion of rural poultry for sustainable food security and livelihood improvement; (iv) pursuit of equity including how to empower women and vulnerable groups such as share croppers, tenants, the landless, trans-humants, and marginalized communities from highly fragile areas such as mountains and deserts; (v) promotion of low cost micro finance among rural populations; and (vi) utilization of government social protection, subsidies and procurement programs to lift smaller farmers out of poverty through enhancing market access and entry to value chains.
In order to enable more inclusive and efficient agricultural food, main actions are directed to (i) enhancing non-farm income opportunities, particularly in the marginalized and remote areas (i.e., mountains and deserts); (ii) mainstreaming women contribution in value added agriculture and family nutrition; (iii) increasing exploitation of underutilized trade potential lying in all sub-sectors of agriculture, such as horticulture (fruits, vegetables and floriculture), livestock, dairy development, poultry and fisheries; and (iv) creating contractual production linkages of alternative crops with private sector food chains and public sector food departments including utility stores.
The resilience of livelihoods to disasters will be increased by (i) building a strong resilient agriculture sector to cope with the climate change risks; (ii) promoting cropping pattern and climate smart agriculture practices with maximum water productivity; (iii) conducting impact assessment and optimization of adaptation strategies under climate change scenario; and (iv) undertaking an adaptation program in order to better deal with climate change impacts.
As for the Governance, the Policy actions will be successfully implemented if the government institutions will be structured and financed according to activities prioritized under the document, with appropriate coordinating mechanisms. Implementation of the policy will require the involvement of various ministries, commissions, departments, institutions at the federal and provincial levels along with contribution from international organizations.