Updated on
Summary HRCP has expressed concerns over the issue of rising food scarcity in Pakistan.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), in a statement issued on the eve of World Food Day on Monday, said that there is unmistakable evidence of growing food scarcity in Pakistan and the consequent rise in prices has gravely affected access to food and nutrition not just for the poor but also for the large middle-income segment of the population.The problems associated with food scarcity in Pakistan have not come about overnight; they are structural and have links with issues of land holdings, tenants rights, shortages of essential inputs, especially water, and the technical, educational and financial capacity of the farming community.Successive governments have been exceptionally unimaginative in addressing food scarcity in Pakistan. The usual response to shortage of edibles has been to import the same.The increase in support price for the main crops has led to a rise in the price of commodities and taken them farther away from the reach of the poor.The steep rise in the cost of food is forcing even middle-income families to divert the sums they earlier spent on health and education to put food on the table.HRCP has urged the government to take up this issue on priority. Pakistan cannot get out of this tangle without making policy changes across a wide range.
