Pakistan food systems transformation need policy shift from calorie sufficiency to nutrition security

QUETTA, Apr 04 (APP):Policymakers, researchers and development practitioners called for a shift from calorie-based food policies to nutrition-sensitive and climate-resilient food systems during a provincial consultation on “Integrated Roadmap for Sustainable Food Systems Transformation in Pakistan” which is a Joint UN Sustainable Development Goal Fund Programme.

The consultation was organized by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) as part of a nationwide series of dialogues in collaboration with the United Nations Resident Coordinator Office, Food and Agriculture Organization, UNICEF , World Food Programme, World Health Organization, and International Fund for Agricultural Development, said a news release.

Opening the session, Dr. Sajid Amin, Deputy Executive Director, SDPI, said the consultation sought to incorporate provincial realities and local knowledge into national policy planning.

He noted that similar consultations were being held across provinces to develop actionable policy recommendations for ensuring food security while improving nutrition outcomes.

Providing background of the initiative, Ms. Sitara Gill, Economist, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), representing the programme secretariat, highlighted a major mismatch between Pakistan’s food supply and national dietary requirements based on analytical work by FAO experts Dr. Lynnette Neufeld and Dr. David Laborde.

She said cereals, fats, oils and sugar are available in excess of recommended levels, while fruits and vegetables remain significantly below dietary requirements. Speaking on fiscal policy dimensions of food system reforms, Dr. Asim Bashir Khan, Economist and Policy Expert, called for re-aligning public spending toward nutrition-sensitive interventions.

He recommended redirecting subsidies toward healthy foods, reducing taxes on nutritious items and integrating dietary diversity indicators into social protection programmes to improve nutrition outcomes.

 Presenting an integrated food system transformation plan, Dr. Babar Shahbaz, Professor, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, and Visiting Fellow, SDPI, observed that Pakistan faces a paradox of “calorie abundance but nutrition deficit.”

He proposed reforms based on five pillars: nutrition-sensitive food environments, climate-resilient crop diversification, strengthened value chains and post-harvest management, adoption of a “One Health” approach linking human, animal and environmental health, and establishment of inclusive data-driven governance systems.

He emphasized improving cold storage infrastructure, reducing post-harvest losses, regulating ultra-processed foods and building digital food system databases for better policy coordination.

Sharing insights from a political economy perspective, Dr. Imran Khalid, Governance and Policy Analyst, said Pakistan’s food policy framework remains heavily centered on wheat and sugar with insufficient attention to sustainability, nutrition and resilience.

He pointed out that powerful interest groups including large landowners, mill owners, traders and fertilizer lobbies often benefit from the current system and resist diversification reforms.

He recommended shifting the government’s role from a dominant market buyer to a regulator ensuring transparency, fair pricing and climate-smart agriculture. During the open discussion, participants raised alarms regarding the specific challenges in Balochistan.

 Mir Bahram Baloch, an anchor at PTV Quetta, noted that the province faces a “nutritional emergency,” with flour prices being the highest in the country despite widespread poverty. Haroon Rashid, representing youth organizations, highlighted severe food safety issues, stating that vegetables in Quetta are often grown using contaminated drain water.

Bilawal Baloch of UNFPA urged the government to prioritize the food department as a research-led analytical body rather than a purely administrative one, advocating for grassroots initiatives like “kitchen gardening” to tackle local malnutrition. Other speakers, including Dr. Mohammad Azam Kakar (FAO Sector Lead) and representatives from the HOPE organization, emphasized the need for “One Health” approaches and the inclusion of the Ministry of Human Rights in food security coordination, as access to nutritious food is fundamentally a human rights issue.

 Participants emphasized improving policy coordination and governance mechanisms, warning that weak institutional coordination often leads to duplication of policies without effective implementation.

They proposed establishing digital farmer registration systems and expanding data-sharing platforms to improve targeting and monitoring of interventions.

Experts also highlighted the importance of strengthening value addition and market access for farmers, citing initiatives such as onion grading facilities, dehydrators for raisin production and date-processing equipment to reduce post-harvest losses and enhance rural livelihoods, particularly for women farmers.

Representatives from development agencies stressed the need to place children at the centre of food and nutrition policies, noting that malnutrition indicators in some provinces remain significantly higher than national averages and that early childhood nutrition is critical for cognitive development.

 Experts also highlighted the importance of mandatory front-of-pack nutrition labelling, restrictions on advertising unhealthy foods targeting children, and taxation of ultra-processed foods to promote healthier dietary choices.

 They further emphasized expanding climate-smart agriculture practices, promoting drought-resistant crop varieties, encouraging fortified crops such as iron- and zinc-rich seeds, and integrating biotechnology research into mainstream agricultural planning to improve resilience and nutrition outcomes.

 During the discussion session, participants stressed that food system reforms must prioritize affordability and accessibility for low-income populations while ensuring stronger enforcement of food safety regulations, improved school-based nutrition awareness and enhanced coordination between federal and provincial institutions to support sustainable and nutrition-sensitive transformation of Pakistan’s food systems.