RAWALPINDI - Islamabad Chamber of Small Traders on Friday asked the government to improve food security situation without which peace, stability and progress cannot be achieved. Country must improve its deteriorating ranking in food security index as almost half of the country’s population remains food insecure, said Patron Islamabad Chamber of Small Traders Shahid Rasheed Butt.

He said that every individual has a right to access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food on consistent basis that fulfils all the dietary needs. Affordability, availability and quality of the food in Pakistan needs serious review as hunger is rising despite increase agriculture output which indicates lack of serious efforts on the part of the government, he added.

Shahid Rasheed Butt said that a starving person can go to any extent which is a reasons behind increased incidences of terrorism in the country. It is amazing that countries like India, Sri Lanka, Angola, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Malawi, Nicaragua, Niger, Vietnam, and India have performed better than Pakistan.

Government should think seriously about providing cover to millions of food insecure people which is a major national issue as rising food prices, floods, poverty, conflicts, terrorism, energy crisis, economic slowdown and political instability are some factors behind hunger.

A bumper wheat crop does not guarantee that the poor of the country would have better access to staple, he noted.

Hunger in Pakistan can also be attributed to the lack of an innovative strategy, lack of interest of policymakers in the agriculture sector and failure of SBP to push banks to provide enhanced agricultural loans, he said.