Food security is determined by a combination of three factors: physical availability, economic access and effective absorption. The stability of these factors is also important, as efforts to ensure security can be undermined by volatility. The recent surge in food prices hold serious implications for poverty and political security, to which food security is inevitably bound. Riots related to food prices have been erupting in developing countries including the Philip-pines, Egypt, Haiti, India, Vietnam, Cambodia and China. Pakistan should not be considered an exception.
Following the flagship study undertaken in 2003 by SDPI, the Food Security Analysis (FSA) 2003, SDPI has again undertaken the FSA with a view to assessing the state of food security in various districts of Pakistan and exposing its interlinkages with violence and peace. The study was conducted in collaboration with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the World Food Program (WFP), and undertook the ranking of 135 districts of Pakistan in terms of their food insecurity. It was found that the 20 districts with the worst food insecurity in 2003 are today the worst militancy hit districts in Pakistan.
Objective:
The FSA aimed to identify the districts requiring immediate donor or government intervention; to plan results oriented implementation of development projects in food insecure areas; and to identify changes in cropping patterns due to climate change over the last 5 years. The Assessment found that food access and the law and order situation both affect each other in crucial ways, while governance can play an active role in determining food inflation and affordability.