The world faces the growing spectre of hunger due to war, conflicts, climate shocks, economic slowdown and shrinking humanitarian aid. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation’s latest report on global food insecurity, worldwide more than 295 million people faced acute hunger last year. This is a new record, marking the sixth consecutive annual increase in the number of people affected by “high levels” of acute food insecurity.
In the early sixties, the world had a population of 3.5 billion who were fed by cultivating 1.37 billion hectares of land. By 2011, the global population had doubled to seven billion, but cultivated land had increased by just 12 per cent to 1.53 billion hectares. Despite this, agricultural productivity nearly doubled, resulting in a global food surplus. As of 2025, the global population stands at 8.1 billion, and food production has tripled compared to 1961 levels.
This was due to the Green Revolution, which introduced high-yielding varieties (HYVs), chemical fertilisers and improved irrigation systems. Pakistan participated in the Green Revolution in the mid-1960s but gradually lost touch with ongoing global innovations. Global food production has largely kept pace with population growth, primarily due to advances in technology and the introduction of high-yielding seed varieties. But Pakistan later failed to keep pace with this progress in agricultural productivity. Mechanised farming has a limited reach in Pakistan which has one of the lowest numbers of tractors per hectare, and mechanised harvesting is minimal, resulting in significant post-harvest losses due to manual collection
According to FAO, an estimated 11 million people in Pakistan faced acute food shortages between November 2024 and March 2025, caused by multiple adverse economic factors and climate-related stresses. The crisis was particularly severe in 68 flood-affected rural districts in Balochistan, Sindh, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
Erratic weather patterns emerged as the leading factor contributing to acute food insecurity in the country, with unusually heavy monsoon rains between July and September triggering floods in parts of Balochistan and Sindh. These climate shocks not only disrupted agricultural production — causing widespread crop losses and extensive damage to homes, water systems and farming infrastructure — but also deepened economic vulnerabilities for rural populations. At the same time, rising inflation has eroded the common man’s purchasing power, making access to food increasingly unaffordable for tens of millions of Pakistanis.
Due to acute food insecurity Pakistan also faces the threat of severe malnutrition. According to a report, between March 2023 and January 2024, acute malnutrition affected 2.1 million children in the age bracket six months to five years, with the crisis stemming from not just worsening food shortages, but also from inadequate dietary quality and quantity. Food insecurity has pushed up the rates of maternal under-nutrition, particularly in Sindh and KP, severely impacting pregnant women and lactating mothers, with dire consequences for child health. According to a 2024 report documenting the malnutrition crisis in the country, a staggering 1.4 million infants are born under-weight each year. And with malnourished mothers often struggling to breastfeed, newborns become even more susceptible to inadequate nutrition, entrenching a vicious cycle of intergenerational poor health.
It goes without saying that extreme hunger and food insecurity are crises that we must tackle on an emergency basis. A predominantly agricultural country like Pakistan should have achieved sustainable food sufficiency long ago but we neglected this task. Our systems for climate resilience and agricultural stability are in clear need of an urgent overhaul, with policies geared toward ensuring food security for all, including the most vulnerable segments of the population. With India’s suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty now jeopardising our agricultural lifeline, we are in an even more precarious position.
We need to promote and encourage greater use of fertilisers and pesticides which previously boosted yields in Pakistan, but rising costs have made them unaffordable for many farmers. So their costs should be brought down through targeted subsidies. On the other hand, scientific breeding and genetically modified seeds can improve crop resistance to drought, pests, and disease. The adoption of hybrid seeds, particularly for IRRI-rice varieties and maize, has raised productivity. Such seeds should also be adopted for wheat which is our staple food.
The increase in agricultural productivity in Pakistan has lagged behind global benchmarks. Average wheat yields in Pakistan range from 2.8 to 3.1 tonnes per hectare, compared to over 3.5 tonnes globally and 5.5 tonnes in China. Another major hurdle is lack of storage facilities and efficient logistics which results in higher post-harvest losses. Another issue is that of unequal distribution of food which leads to hunger in some areas. Pakistan produces enough food to feed its population, but a significant portion of the population faces food insecurity due to unequal access. This requires making the food supply chain more efficient and equitable.
To address the issue of food insecurity on a long-term basis, we must develop an integrated policy framework that embraces all the causative factors – environmental, economic, or geopolitical. Several factors contribute to Pakistan’s sluggish growth in agriculture, including outdated seed varieties, poor water management, and insufficient extension services. Housing developments, and industrial encroachments have also reduced arable land. Climate change also now poses a serious threat to Pakistan’s agricultural productivity. All these issues need to be tackled in a comprehensive manner to overcome the challenge of food insecurity.