ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam on Friday said ensuring healthy diets for everyone vital to tackling global challenges of hunger and malnutrition.

“In our world, one person in nine does not have enough to eat for various reasons. Many sleep without having adequate food for normal healthy living,” the special assistant in his message on World Food Day, which is celebrated every year on Oct 16 by United Nations member countries. The theme this year is: “Grow, nourish, sustain together. Our actions are our future.”

Malik Ameen Aslam stressed that the world community needed to launch information campaigns globally to amplify one message of achieving zero hunger by 2030, possible only by joining forces for action against global hunger.

This year’s #WorldFoodDay highlights an idea of looking towards the future the world needed to build together where hunger was eliminated altogether.

The PM’s special assistant said as countries continued to deal with the widespread effects of the Covid-19, World Food Day 2020 had come as an opportunity to highlight how food and agriculture were an integral part of the pandemic response.

He said: “Preserving access to safe and nutritious food is and will continue to be an essential part of the response to the Covid-19, particularly for poor and vulnerable communities, who are hit hardest by the pandemic economically,” Malik Amin stressed.

Malik Amin Aslam highlighted that food wasted was another challenge to the global efforts aimed at tackling hunger and malnutrition.

“Various studies show around 14pc of the food produced for human consumption is lost each year between the stages where it is grown or raised up to when it reaches the markets and at the retail food and consumer stages,” said the PM’s special assistant on climate change.

While all stakeholders involved in food production and distribution systems were needed to play their role in fighting growing hunger, malnutrition in Pakistan, the incumbent government continued to support such roles for achieving Zero Hunger in Pakistan.

He elaborated that the first national food security policy and the water policy, provided the frameworks for action, putting emphasis on agriculture diversification and value addition, resilient climate smart agriculture and water management, improved livelihoods of smallholder farmers and tenants, safe drinking water and a National Zero Hunger Programme.

He also highlighted that efforts had been made to launch climate smart agriculture initiatives in Pakistan’s eight districts, five in the country’s north and three in southern parts to help the people who manage agricultural systems respond effectively to adverse impacts of climate change.

Launching of the climate smart agriculture initiative basically aimed to pursue three major goals, namely sustainably increasing productivity and incomes, adapting to climate change and reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the agriculture sector where possible, Malik Amin Aslam said.

Published in Dawn, October 17th, 2020