Pakistan facing threat of food insecurity after flood: PM Shehbaz Sharif

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Sunday that Pakistan is facing the threat of food insecurity after devastating floods while climate change also caused a serious shortage of food globally, ARY News reported.

In a Twitter thread, PM Shehbaz Sharif said in a message on World Food Day that the recent flood destroyed crops on millions of acres of land in Pakistan. Pakistan will need to import food commodities to fulfil the requirements despite being an agricultural country.

He said that World Food Day highlights the importance of global steps to ensure food security in different countries. After natural disasters due to climate change and rising prices in the global markets, the world is witnessing a shortage of food which would be intensified in the coming days.

PM Sharif added that climate change is giving negative impacts on our lives in many aspects in which poverty and hunger at the top of the list.

حالیہ تباہ کن سیلاب نے لاکھوں ایکڑ پر تیار فصلوں کو تباہ کر دیا۔ پاکستان جیسے زرعی ملک کو بھی اس نقصان کے ازالے کیلئے اشیاءِ خوردنوش درآمد کرنا پڑیں گی۔ آج خوراک کا عالمی دن دنیا کے مختلف ممالک کے غذائی تحفظ کو یقینی بنانے کیلئے مجموعی عالمی اقدامات کی اہمیت اجاگر کرتا ہے۔ /۱

— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) October 16, 2022

Earlier in the month, PM Sharif said that Pakistan should not be forced to go out with a “begging bowl” to rich polluting nations after the floods devastated the country, stressing that he would be seeking “climate justice” from the international community.

READ: EU ANNOUNCED €30 MILLION HUMANITARIAN AID FOR FLOOD VICTIMS: PM

In the second part of his interview by The Guardian published, the prime minister warned that Pakistan was facing an unprecedented crisis of health, food security and internal displacement after the “apocalyptic” monsoons put a third of Pakistan’s regions under water.

With Pakistan responsible for 0.8 per cent of global carbon emissions, PM Shehbaz Sharif said it was the “responsibility of the developed countries, who caused these emissions, to stand by us”.

“I’ve never seen this kind of devastation, inundation and suffering of our people in my lifetime,” he said, adding: “Millions have been displaced, they have become climate refugees within their own country.”

While the international community has given billions in funds and donations and commitments for further support, the premier was clear it was “not enough”.