About Event
The Second National School of Public Policy Conference on Food Security was held on August 19th and 20th, 2024. The Executive Director SPRC, Dr. Safdar Sohail presented his paper “Food Security in a post-productivist agricultural development model in Pakistan” in the session on Exploring Global and National Models for Ensuring Food Security within the Context of Development.

Issues Identified
Dr. Safdar highlighted that the government is withdrawing support at a time when our indicators are already in bad shape. Pakistan is an outlier in South Asia on most food security indicators. For instance, 82% of the population in Pakistan cannot afford a healthy diet, compared to 66% in Bangladesh.

He further raised the concerns about the financialization of wheat market. Dr Safdar pointed out that Pakistan is undergoing a capitalist operation over the past decade. This leading to inequality in net distribution of profit across the wheat value chain, with farmer being the most disadvantaged. Examples from other countries suggest that farmer being the producer of wheat, should capture the maximum value or the consumer price. But in Pakistan it happened other way around.

He emphasized that wheat is not just another commodity for Pakistan. It represents the social life and sustenance for the majority of farmers, as it is essential to their families and households. The land provides this vital resource, making it crucial to limit financial pressures on the system to ensure farmers can continue to access the wheat they need.

Policy Recommendation
Dr. Sohail suggested that while we are currently at risk of of liquidating farmers and poor households there is still an opportunity to avert this, if we de-financialize the provision of staple foods, health care, and the criminal justice system. By removing staple foods from capitalist operations, we might see the emergence of some green shoots of our own post-productionism.