ISLAMABAD: Pictures of farming communities across Pakistan were exhibited to celebrate 40 years of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation in Pakistan.

“The exhibition testifies to how agriculture and food security are still at the centre of the lives of millions of people. This of course is true in Pakistan but it is also true in other parts of the world,” said FAO representative in Pakistan Mina Dowlatchahi.

“Every image is a reminder of the hard work that men, women and youth associated with agriculture put in to ensure that food reaches our table. In return, we must play our role to ensure that they are not left behind,” she added.

The exhibition included pictures by Srosh Anwar, Jawad Yousafzai, Shahid Ahmed and Waqas Rafique, who captured poignant images of the farming communities where FAO has worked.

Srosh Anwar, who covered south Punjab and rural Sindh, said: “It was a great experience for me; I’ve travelled for other development assignments to Sindh but this was different in that I had the flexibility to connect with the people I was photographing. Some of the stories were done in as little as one day but still there was time to make the people more comfortable by interacting with them. It is about making a connection as you can’t just take out your camera and start photographing people and expect them to be natural.”

Jawad Yousafzai went to North and South Waziristan, and related: “I was able to capture some amazing photographs in former Fata, a region that has gone through some very hard times. Rehabilitating that region is a tremendous task.”

Shahid Ahmed said: “This was my first time travelling to Quetta. I had the opportunity to meet people in the field and before I went there I was concerned about cultural and social restrictions that would make it difficult for me to fulfil my assignment. When I got to the communities though it was incredible how warm they were and how willing to share their stories with me.”

Shahid’s story was titled, Women Empowerment, and he explained how the women who used to make wool by hand now had machines to make the process much faster and they had made their market linkages and were conducting business.

The exhibition is being held at the Pakistan National Council of Arts and will remain on display for this week, in time for World Food Day on Oct 16.

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2018