Food Insecurity in Pakistan

Pakistan’s population is about 210 Million and is expected to get to 245 Million by 2030. According to the outgoing country director of World Food Program (WFP) Lola Castro, 43 percent of the country’s population remains food insecure, with 18 percent facing a severe shortage.

According to the Global Hunger Index in 2019, Pakistan ranks 94th out of 117 countries with a score of 28.5 and suffers from a level of hunger that is serious.

Food Waste:

Food waste produced globally each year is more than enough to feed the nearly 1 billion hungry people in the world. It is estimated that 40 per cent of food is wasted in Pakistan.

• Hotels and Restaurants

Every year, a dramatic increase in food waste is witnessed in Muslim countries during Ramadan because of lavish buffets, excessive grocery shopping and cooking large quantities of food.

Nearly 40 percent of food wastage also occurs at various hotel banquets. Reportedly, in a major hotel in Islamabad, 870 kg of food is wasted each day.

Consequences

Wastage of food has many consequences.

• While 2.5 litres of water are sufficient for drinking each day, it takes about 3,500 litres to produce the food a person needs each day. Food waste impacts natural resources in terms of land and soil degradation.

• Agricultural cultivation involves use of fertilisers and pesticides; transportation uses fuel and produces emissions; and storage involves use of electricity. All these resources go to waste when food is wasted.

• Global Food Security, a recent report by the US National Intelligence Council, says that declining food security will almost certainly contribute to social disruptions and political instability.

• Simply growing more food globally will not lead to countries becoming more food-secure because sustainable access will remain unequal; millions lack land access or income sources to buy sufficient food.

• Food waste in landfill emits CO2 and methane, both of which are hazardous to the environment.

• Food insecurity, especially when caused by higher food prices, heightens the risk of democratic breakdown, civil conflict, protest, rioting, and communal conflict.

Food Waste in Restaurants of Lahore

Country’s second largest urban center, Lahore, which is also popularly designated as “the culinary capital of Pakistan” has a reputation of excessively wasting food.

Strategies:

• Incentives

A restaurant to give discount after a buffet if there is no leftover food on the table

• Resolving Supply Chain Issues

Most vegetables and fruit are wasted during the supply chain process. This should be addressed through the establishment of an infrastructure from land to market

• Government's Involvement

The government’s social welfare departments may extend their outreach activities by collecting wasted food and distributing it among the needy. An example of this is a newly established market near Leeds, England, which stocks wasted food for needy shoppers.

• Biogas

Another option is subjecting food waste to anaerobic digestion to produce biogas. A California city, Manteca, plans to run all trucks on biogas, produced by the anaerobic digestion of food waste collected from schools, businesses and restaurants.

Platforms:

• Food Consumption Tracking App

• Website

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