The Statesman
Published Date: Oct 8, 2013
Study finds conducive conditions to support household food security in 11 districts
A study conducted in eleven districts of three provinces has found overall conducive conditions for cash and voucher assistance to support household food security.
World Food Programme (WFP) in Pakistan conducted the comprehensive study and also found there was geographic variation in degree of feasibility between and even within districts depending on the level of food insecurity, market conditions, security situation and the infrastructure for cash or voucher transaction.
According to WFP here on Monday, the study involved survey of 2,200 households to understand household food security situation including the
consumption pattern, source of food and use of markets to meet household food demand.
The study also conducted traders survey to understand their capacity, market supply and demand situation, and market mapping and profiling to understand the market network and connectivity.
The districts covered by study include Jaffarabad and Naseerabad in Balochistan, Jacobabad, Kashmore, Shikarpur, Mirpurkhas, Badin, Tharparkar and Umarkot in Sindh and Peshawar and Swat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
The study also found that the districts had moderate to high degree of food insecurity and two thirds of the populations facing good insecurity
were not consuming both adequate calories and minimum protein requirements.
In average, it was found that about 83 percent of the household cereal consumption came from the markets. Markets were generally well integrated with traders able to manage the household demand for food.
Thus, the overall conditions were found conducive for cash or voucher intervention to support household food security.
Moreover, upon request from Ministry of Food Security and Research (MNFSR), WFP and SDPI in collaboration with Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and United Nations Children ‘s Fund (UNICEF), have been conducting a study with an aim to produce a report on Food Security
and Nutrition in Pakistan.
This is expected to provide a comprehensive analysis of the latest situation of food security and nutrition, which is believed to be important basis for policy and programmes for food security and nutrition in the country.
Prior to this, WFP and SDPI had prepared a similar report few years back which was also supported by Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC).
The preliminary analysis have been made based on secondary data collected from districts and provinces.