ISLAMABAD, Oct 16: Nearly 84 per cent farmers in Pakistan live at the subsistence level in spite of surpluses achieved in wheat, cotton, sugarcane, rice, etc., and the country having graduated from dependence on imports to the ability to export wheat, a World Food Day seminar was informed here on Thursday.

The theme of this year’s programme is “International alliance against hunger” in the world where the level of food production is unprecedented and yet 840 million, including 800 million in the developing countries, suffer from chronic hunger.

The seminar was organized by the National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC) and attended largely by farm scientists and other staff of the ministry of food and agriculture.

The representatives of FAO and WFP, Dr Umer Saleh Ahmed and German Valdiva, respectively; agriculture secretary Salik Nazir Ahmed and chairman Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) Dr Badruddin Soomro were also present.

A three-dimensional exhibition on the activities and achievements of NARC scientists in various disciplines of farm-related research was also organized.

Minister of State for Food and Agriculture Sikendar Hayat Khan Bosan said farmers in rural areas were generally poor. Curiously, he did not mention the absence of access to land among the causes of poverty while stating that they were poor not only in low income but also lacked access to basic needs such as education, health, clean drinking water and sanitation.

The vicious circle of poverty was accentuated when the governance structures excluded the most vulnerable from the decision-making process, he added.

The minister thanked the FAO and the WFP for their unstinted support to Pakistan in combating low agricultural productivity, hunger and poverty. Over the past 50 years, FAO has implemented 225 projects in the country with a total funding of $119.5 million besides participating in 126 regional projects.

It had also provided technical assistance to Pakistan to increase agricultural production, ensure household food security and promote sound management of national resources. These programmes had led to significant improvement in agriculture sector, Mr Bosan said.

Likewise, the WFP has spent more than $1.2 billion in Pakistan and fed over 11 million poor people. Its current programme supports almost 1 per cent of our population at a cost of over $58 million.

Besides, there are 700,000 women beneficiaries of the WFP in Pakistan. The WFP provides food to parents for educating their daughters in almost 3,300 schools in the poor rural areas.

During the fiscal year 2002-03, he added, the output of major crops had grown by 5.8 per cent. Besides, the cropped area had increased by 0.22 million hectors to 22.15 million hectares. It had also exported three million tons of wheat during the last three years apart from exports of rice, fruits, vegetables and livestock.

WFP representative Mr Valdiva said hunger and malnutrition were No 1 cause of death in the world. The solution to these problems, he added, required more than just food aid.

Referring to Pakistan, he said hunger was a major problem in this country with more than one-third population living below the poverty line. “We need more help from the institutional community and multinational sectors to meet the challenge,” he added.