KARACHI -- With the population growth rate at 2.16 percent in 2002 as compared to 3.06 percent in 1981, Pakistan, it seems, has made some headway in birth control. But feeding 146 million people remains a formidable job. More so because the ability on the part of the state to ensure food for everybody irrespective of class appears to be at stake due to severe water logging, salinity, drought, scarcity of water and, an inequitable socio-economic system.
"A demographic transition is taking place, though currently at a slower pace," according to the Economic Survey of Pakistan 2001-2002. "It poses an enormous challenge for the government to manage the economy in such a way that the transition benefits Pakistan. Investment in people, maintaining macro-economic stability, and achieving higher economic growth on a sustained basis should form the basic principle of realizing potential benefits of demographic transition in Pakistan."
But it is obvious that "investment in people" is still a far-fetched dream. Even the Economic Survey of Pakistan admits that the high rate of population growth, low life expectancy and high mortality rate put Pakistan among the bottom of regional countries. "The poor show of health indicators of Pakistan in relation to other regional countries suggest an urgent need to invest in the welfare of the people so as to improve the country's health indicators," the Survey said. Sadly enough the overall per capita food availability of basic food items has declined over the previous year.
One wonders if the shortfall in food availability of basic food items is due to myopic policies on the part of planners or a result of structural changes brought about by leading financial institutions. This is a point to ponder because there have been instances when a food crisis was generated deliberately in order to open doors to genetically modified food (GM food), otherwise banned in Europe and Japan.
For instance, according to research conducted by the Institute for Food and Development Policy, an independent think tank based in California, "The US government has a twenty-year history of first generating hunger through macro-economic policy that, while selling itself as 'austere,' systematically enriches large corporations and impoverishes working families."
The report details how the World Bank and International Monetary Fund exacerbate famine through structural adjustments programs that force indebted nations to pay debt by cutting services for their citizens, exporting their crops, dismantling their crop reserves, and devaluing their currencies. While these mechanisms work to rob a country of its food sovereignty, it also aids US multinationals in prying open new markets for GM food.
"This grain cannot be sold to the EU or Japan because of their embargoes on genetically modified food for human consumption. The figures for US farm exports tell the story: US corn exports to the European Union shrank from $426 million in 1995 to $1 million in 1999," according to the report.
Does that mean that food shortage and famine are being artificially created in order to pave way for GM food? This is precisely what happened in Zambia, an impoverished nation, and the example provides food for thought for planners in Pakistan.
Pakistan has been facing severe drought for the last five or six years and this could lead to food shortages and famine in certain areas. While factors like climate change are a part of natural calamities, it is high time to ponder man-made factors, which ultimately lead to the opening of Pakistani markets to GM food. More so because giant multinational companies are very eager that the ministry of environment allow them to enter Pakistani markets. Speculations in this regard should not be perceived as some sort of conspiracy theory because there is ample evidence of the pattern as to how transnational companies operate.
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines famine as when "the severity of critical malnutrition levels exceeds 15 percent of children aged 6 to 59.9 months." The UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) defines famine as "an extreme collapse in local availability (of) and access to food that causes (a) widespread rise in mortality from outright starvation or hunger-related illnesses."
In Pakistan "the overall per capita food availability of the basic food items has declined over the previous year," according to the Economic Survey of Pakistan. It's high time to contain the menace of malnutrition through pragmatic measures and through creating awareness among the vast majority of people.
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