It is no hidden fact that successive governments in Pakistan have largely failed to allocate funds or focus to what is the country’s, in fact any country’s, most vital resource: namely, its human resources.
Taking a look at the funds that all previous administrations have ever allocated under the heads of health, education, poverty alleviation, food security, training, and skills development, reveals stats that only knit a starkly disappointing picture.
The recent UN-backed Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) 2026 has listed Pakistan among the top 10 countries where acute food insecurity is rampant, stating that its concentration is the result of fundamental deficiencies and discrepancies in the agriculture sector. Adding to these inadequacies are climate-related extremities and Pakistan’s persistent economic fragility.
Following the UN report, Pakistan initiated a dialogue with the United Nations Committee on World Food Security last weekend, seeking policy guidance to shape its national strategies on food security. The development came on the sidelines of the FAO Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific in Brunei Darussalam on the 24th of April. According to Pakistan’s Ministry of National Food Security and Research, Pakistan’s current efforts to ensure food availability to its population while responding to evolving environmental and socio-economic challenges were outlined during the discussions.
An undernourished population, repeatedly battered by the brunt of cyclic inflation-disinflation, is completely unfit for its own, as well as the country’s, progress and survival
Human resources are the most valuable resource critical to a country’s economic development, but foremost to its human development, before this progress can transition into economic and other stats. A satiated, healthy, educated, skilled and, moreover, ‘satisfied’ workforce benefits the country much more than it benefits itself. A flourishing, strong labour force increases productivity, fuels technological advancement, utilises natural resources effectively, and enhances global competitiveness, all of which directly boost GDP, eventually ensuring economic growth.
And yet, while we exhaust our best brains over strategies and policies to boost the economy, and as governments work to improve macroeconomic indicators more than the macro realities they reflect, we never care to strive to produce more of such bright brains as a starting and sustaining point on our development trajectory.
We seem to overlook the fact that food security is the most key aspect of human development, and an undernourished population, repeatedly battered by the brunt of cyclic inflation-disinflation, is completely unfit for its own, as well as the country’s, progress and survival.
Human needs for education, health, and habiliments come only second to food and dietary needs.
This is why, of all the price gouging and price hiking that irk the common man, not being able to put food on their plate or enjoy a basic full meal is, perhaps, the most debilitating (literally) and disturbing reality.
Ironically, we are also the third-ranked country in the highest food-wasting clan. Perhaps those privileged with full bellies and fuller pockets need to realise the criminality of wasting food at homes, weddings, hotel buffets, and other events; the impunity of letting excess food putrefy while hunger pangs petrify our fellow country folks, babies, and children.
Food security is defined by the FAO as a situation in which all people at all times have physical and economic access to adequate quantities of safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences to lead a healthy and active life
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Despite being an agricultural country, Pakistan has been food insecure since the early 2000s. Going by the findings of the UN report, it is evident that whatever little was ever done to pull the country out of chronic food insecurity during the past 26 years has clearly not managed to counter or curb the extending monster of hunger and ensuing malnutrition. In fact, acute and chronic hunger is more rampant in the Pakistan of today.
With over 11 million people, 9.3 million under ‘crisis’ conditions and 1.7 million in ‘emergency’, the country faces acute food insecurity that exposes our very fragile resilience against the torments of hunger and malnutrition.
While the report has merely quantified what was known and established about food insecurity in Pakistan not being cyclic or temporary; emergency responses and steps like stabilisation in prices may have a quick-fix effect on addressing hunger, but the road to complete course correction is a long one.
The human aspect of food insecurity ranks much above the economic aspect. Food is the most basic human need that lies above all other human requirements. Food insecurity or inaccessibility, hence, affects people’s own existence foremost, directly impairing bodies, minds, and souls, before it affects what becomes a country’s manpower, impacting the economy and other development figures.
All countries have a human and legal obligation towards their citizens, particularly those who cannot put solid, staple food on their plate. A democratic Pakistan should, therefore, first and foremost, attend to the nutritional needs of its citizens, acting to ensure sufficient provision of food and prioritise the eradication of hunger through humane domestic policies and legit international support.
Our agriculture sector’s growth stands at a meagre 3% against a predicted potential growth rate of 7%, with the ambitious National Food Security Policy 2018 having aimed to take sustainable food production systems up by an average growth rate of 4%. Why have the implementation efforts of successive governments managed to tap less than half the potential of the agriculture sector, while having aimed high in policy portfolios? Is there a lack of cohesive, implementable policies that also ails the sector?
Low on productivity and high on wastage, the agricultural sector fails to deliver. With over 20% of Pakistan’s population malnourished, 45% of children stunted, and a whopping 30% underweight, the need to fully utilise the country’s agricultural potential could not be more dire.
The UN report points to a world where conflict, climate extremities, and disappearing humanitarian assistance are converging to nurture hunger, not humans. In such a scenario, Pakistan’s challenges become manifold, largely rooted in climate shocks, corruption, and governance gaps.
Recurrent floods and extreme weather events destroy crops and erode rural livelihoods, pushing vulnerable populations into a cycle of asset depletion. Agricultural support policies should therefore provide incentives for farmers and remove obstacles to food production, deploying frameworks that ensure the protection of infrastructure necessary for food production.
The importance of research, innovation, and technology in modernising agriculture and food systems, and the role of research institutions in advancing solutions such as precision agriculture and digital tools aimed at improving productivity, sustainability, and resilience, cannot be overstated under the current circumstances. Better and innovative indigenous growth strategies will also help lower our rising food import bill that strains our already meagre external account.
In Balochistan and KP, where poverty already limits access to food and nutrition, the volatility of food insecurity compounds the impoverishment effect. There is hunger that leads to chronic malnutrition, representing a classic case of a less visible crisis with more visible and far-reaching consequences.
The National Food Security Policy 2018 put forth some lofty aims while managing to identify problems in the agricultural sector, highlighting the effects of persistent corruption and neglect, and a clout that tweaks the system to its own advantage while compromising food security for all. The policy attributed the slow pace of agricultural development and lack of food security to high population growth, rapid urbanisation, low purchasing power, high price fluctuations, erratic food production, and inefficient food distribution systems.
It further aimed at enhancing food accessibility by forming a national zero-hunger programme and supporting small farmers, while also increasing focus on the mitigation of climate change impacts by opting for climate-smart agriculture, viable resilient strategies, and crop-livestock insurance schemes.
Almost eight years down the road, how much of what the policy recommended has been implemented and achieved is well reflected in our rising food insecurity numbers and rankings.
As the Ministry of National Food Security and Research officials met in Brunei in April, Pakistan’s cabinet approved new agricultural reforms to counter food insecurity, including the first-ever National Agriculture Biotechnology Policy, the National Seed Policy 2025, and the Interim National Wheat Policy 2025–26. These policies prioritise self-reliance in food production amid rising global supply chain disruptions to move away from dependence on food imports.
Self-sufficiency is the right strategy in these conflict-ridden, fragmented times, but will more paper policies also transition into more access to food for the country’s hungry and famished?