It is not news for an average Pakistani citizen that a significant proportion of children in the country are undernourished, with over 37% prevalence of child stunting. As Amartya Sen observed, “Starvation is the characteristic of some people not having enough food to eat. It is not the characteristic of their being not enough food to eat.” So, we must switch lenses and look at the problem from a different perspective rather than solely rely on increasing agricultural production. While the government’s noble pursuits in the form of mobile kitchens and shelter homes may contribute towards solving the issue of extreme hunger, we need more robust and comprehensive policies to ensure improvement in child nutrition. Flawed agricultural policy is one of the most critical factors adversely affecting the provision of nutritional food. Thus, this sphere of public policy requires an in-depth analysis to identify its unfavorable impact and realize the potential it can have on helping Pakistan achieve its goals for child nutrition in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.
Firstly, there is a need to refocus our priorities regarding agricultural production from focusing solely on growing staple crops to growing crops with more micronutrients. Being the most important staple crops, Wheat and rice are produced in excessive quantities with minimal exports and increasing government stocks. While these are important for a nutritious diet, they lack many micronutrients found only in crops like fruits and vegetables. Not being actively supported by governmental policies makes growing these non-staple crops unattractive for the farmers. Subsequently, a falling supply of these essential crops leads to increasing prices for the final consumers.
In a country where close to 25% of the population lives below the poverty line, and the situation is likely to worsen due to the ongoing pandemic, affordability of such non-staple food items is out of the question for a majority of the population. This appears to have an adverse impact on children’s nutritional situation and requires specific corrective measures. The policymakers should ensure that the government support and incentives are well balanced and promote crop diversification in the country. Non-staple nutrient-rich crops should be identified and given due attention to incentivize production through the redirection of subsidies. Another policy response could be of mediating the prices of these crops to ensure fairer accessibility.
Secondly, there are observable differences in agriculture production patterns over the past years where we see a transition from harvesting more of the essential food crops to planting more cash crops like cotton and tobacco. These cash crops are economically more profitable for the farmers. Thus, there is a high tendency for more of these farmers to switch their production. Wider and easier availability of pesticides makes producing cash crops like cotton more viable. Another issue is the controversy surrounding genetically modified food, making farmers more likely to avoid growing these crops. On the other hand, genetically modified cotton is widely grown around the country and is increasing in popularity.
This transition towards increased cash crop production entails significant issues for the food security of a considerable proportion of our population. A fall in supply could affect prices in the years to come and could only worsen child nutrition. On the other hand, it can also be said that the rise in genetically modified cash crop farming is expected to increase household incomes which could help improve food security. Such contrasting effects entail that we should aim to achieve the right balance, and agricultural policy could play a vital role in this area. Government should run campaigns to ensure that the negative connotations attached to genetically modified food crops are minimized both from the farmer and consumer side of the market. Agricultural research and development should be a priority to enhance productivity and increase farmers’ income.
Thirdly, farmers’ income plays a crucial role in food security for the rural poor. Farmer households increasingly shift to non-farm activities due to the agricultural sector’s dire situation and exploitation in the farmers’ professional lives. Instability in prices of various agricultural products and lack of credit facilities for farmers are two of the biggest hurdles in their economic prosperity. Referring to Amartya Sen’s ideas earlier, it can be identified that the issue is not that there is a lack of available food. The problem is the affordability of food for a considerable proportion of our population. If the farmers are not earning well, they may not be able to afford nutritious food for their children. They may look for non-farm employment opportunities, but prevalent unemployment makes it extremely difficult for them to secure a job for themselves. Policymakers should devise some restructuring of the massive expenditure on subsidies and provide a social safety net for these farmers to protect their families from the economic shocks of unstable prices. Public-private partnerships can help provide affordable credit facilities to encourage the modernization of agricultural practices.
Lastly, a significant issue with the agricultural policy is that while it relies heavily on women’s labor in the fields, there are no significant opportunities for women to actively participate in agricultural business. Encouraging women-owned farms and increasing microfinancing for women farmers can increase household income and ensure a better supply of nutritional food for the family and children in particular.
It is pertinent to make sure that we approach the problem of malnutrition from multiple perspectives. We need to actively engage with agricultural policy to ensure that the nutritional requirements for children are being met in rural and urban areas of the country.
The author is a third-year Economics and Math student at LUMS with a keen interest in public policy. He can be reached at 22020009@lums.edu.pk
