Twenty three percent of Pakistanis, despite having plenty of food grains available in the storage, are suffering from malnutrition and food insecurity that will increase the burden of dependent population with stunt growth and disease.

Twenty three percent of Pakistanis, despite having plenty of food grains available in the storage, are suffering from malnutrition and food insecurity that will increase the burden of dependent population with stunt growth and disease. This was revealed by Vice Chancellor, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad Prof. DR. Iqrar Ahmad Khan while heading an awareness walk to celebrate the world food day arranged by Faculty of Food, Nutrition and Home Sciences here at Iqbal Auditorium of the University on Saturday morning. Dr. Iqrar Ahmad stressed the need to introduce viable solutions that can help to limit the growing hunger and malnutrition adding around 10 million ton wheat of 300 billion rupees was dumped in the silos of food department that can be distributed among the poor and needy families as an alternative option of paying cash to the vulnerable people under BISP. He said we need to come up with solutions to ensure food security for all segments of the society. He said cost of maize is quite low in the country, so its flour can be mixed with wheat that would enrich the nutrition quality of the flour in an affordable price. Referring towards a recent report of the Planning Commission and the World Food Program, which says that two out of every three households in Pakistan cannot afford a proper diet that, he said, speaks the volume of growing hunger in the country. He said there were several reasons behind this deplorable situation, lack of ability to afford nutritious food by the people, food habits, accessibility to food as well as diet preferences. He said while enough food in the country, not everyone has access to it; as per the WFP, food insecurity exists even though food production is sufficient. He said that the rural population is the most affected, as many cannot afford even one proper meal. In urban areas, he said the situation was not encouraging as over 2.5m children showing stunted growth in Pakistan’s cities. Dr. Khan said that malnutrition affects women and children the most therefore he would suggest that school feeding programs should be encouraged so that youngsters can have at least one balanced and nutritious meal a day.