Food Security can achieved through Climate Smart Agriculture Financing

In the past few years, extreme weather conditions have become commonplace in Pakistan. Heat waves, droughts, and floods have become a yearly occurrence, affecting food and water security in Pakistan.

Food Security can achieved through Climate Smart Agriculture Financing

In the past few years, extreme weather conditions have become commonplace in Pakistan. Heat waves, droughts, and floods have become a yearly occurrence, affecting food and water security in Pakistan. Food Security can be achieved through Climate Smart Agriculture Financing.

The recent floods have destroyed wide areas of agricultural land resulting in approximately 80 per cent loss of rice, 88 per cent loss of sugarcane and 61 per cent loss of cotton production in the province of Sindh. The total adverse economic impact on agriculture is worth US$ 1.3 billion in Sindh alone. Reports state that approximately 15 per cent of Pakistan’s rice crop and 40 per cent of its cotton crop were lost due to these floods. According to experts, Pakistan could soon face food shortages if thousands of acres of cropland aren’t restored sustainably.

Agriculture is both a cause and solution to environmental problems. Unfortunately, in Pakistan agriculture is linked to biodiversity loss and climate change. The impact of climate change on agricultural practices is creating serious challenges to the future food security of billions of people.

According to UNESCAP, Pakistan could lose more than nine per cent of its annual GDP due to climate change. In the year 2021, Pakistan ranked 92nd out of 116 countries on the Global Hunger Index.

In 2018, Pakistan introduced its first-ever National Food Security Policy, striving to increase food availability, accessibility, and sustainability by making the agriculture sector more productive, profitable, climate resilient, and competitive.

The concept of food security has been defined by the United Nations as “all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their food preferences and dietary needs for an active and healthy life”. The attainment of this ideology seems like a highly challenging task for Pakistan in the current times when the current agricultural practices are contributing approximately 21 per cent to the country’s soil pollution.

Changes in monsoons and increased temperatures are likely to bring considerable challenges to the agricultural sector, particularly in northern Pakistan, where vulnerability to climate change is already high. Climate Smart Agriculture Financing will be required to ensure a stable food supply in this dynamic economy in the face of climate change.

The level of climate-related expenditures has been low over the past years, yet the country’s new Pakistan Climate Change Act (PCCA), 2017 sets the stage for the establishment of the Pakistan Climate Change Authority and Pakistan Climate Change Fund, which are expected to help mobilize domestic and international funds for mitigation and adaptation interventions in the country, including climate smart agriculture financing.

Originally published at Daily Times