Innovation for Food Security and Afghanistan-Pakistan Trade in Agriculture: Bridging Ideas to Action through Hackathon and Funding Partnerships

Innovation for Food Security and Afghanistan-Pakistan Trade in Agriculture: Bridging Ideas to Action through Hackathon and Funding Partnerships

Timeframe: July 2023-Feb 2024

Partner: The Canada Fund for Local Initiatives

Locale: Islamabad

Introduction and background

After the COVID-19 pandemic followed by Russian invasion of Ukraine, the extreme climate conditions and supply chain disruptions led to external price shocks and a deteriorating food security outlook in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Floods in Pakistan affected millions of people, who are now facing food shortages and malnutrition. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) has projected that around 73% of households in flood-affected areas have inadequate resources to afford basic nutritional food, which means Pakistan’s progress towards achieving SDG-2 is not satisfactory.

In the case of Afghanistan, 95% of the population is not having enough food and this percentage increases to 100% in female-headed households. As many as 28 out of 34 provinces in Afghanistan are faced with acute malnutrition and 3.5 million children require nutritional treatment support (United Nations, 2023). Trade-based linkages between the two countries, which could increase the supply of food and reduce prices, are also weak.

To address these issues, the project aims to hold a two-day hackathon in Islamabad in which experts from both countries will participate and engage in a discourse to present some practical solutions.

Team: Fatima Muzammil, Zainab Naeem, Dr. Vaqar Ahmed, Asif Javed