PM warns against food security crisis

Prime Minister Imran Khan Thursday said that food security was a great challenge for Pakistan which could even become a national security issue if timely measures were not taken.

“The country is faced with new challenges…The population size is growing fast. We need to prepare in advance as to how to grow food during the next 10 to 15 years,” the prime minister said addressing the Kisan Convention here which marked the launch of the Agriculture Transformation Plan.

Minister for National Food Security Syed Fakhar Imam, Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Special Assistant on Food Security Jamshed Iqbal Cheema also attended the event besides hundreds of farmers from across the country.

He said timely measures were inevitable to ensure the survival of the future generation.

He said the nation which failed to grow food to suffice the needs of its people could not excel rather it should be punished for this slackness.

He said Pakistan imported four million tons of wheat last year which had to be paid for in foreign exchange amidst an already existing shortage of dollars.

LIVE #APPNEWS : PRIME MINISTER IMRAN KHAN ADDRESSING NATIONAL KISAN CONVENTION #ISLAMABAD @PAKPMO @JAMSHEDIQBALCH @MNFSR HTTPS://T.CO/TBNEZGTYSH

— APP ?? (@APPCSOCIALMEDIA) JULY 1, 2021

The prime minister also shared the alarming figures of 40 percent stunted growth of children due to malnutrition and that such children could never progress due to limited growth of brain and body.

The prime minister said the country was faced with a shortage of pure milk mainly because of the milk production of animals in Pakistan was far lower than the developed countries.

He said the import of sperm could have resolved the issue but the farmers neither had the awareness nor the resources.

He said the elite capture was the real issue that had grabbed the resources and facilities meant for all the people.

Imran Khan said after the creation of Pakistan, the rulers could have ensured inclusive growth but instead they created a divide by promoting class-based education, health, and other facilities.

Similarly, he said the farmers also faced a dearth of resources to import quality seeds, build cold storages which led to their exploitation by the middle man.

He said ideally, the government should first focus on the uplift of the common man like Madina State and also opted by China which had steered around 700 million people out of poverty mainly by supporting the small farmers.