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PAKISTAN: Struggling to cope amid rising food prices

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PAKISTAN: Struggling to cope amid rising food prices

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Food has become too expensive for many families in the poorer suburbs of Lahore, Punjab Province (file photo)

LAHORE, 30 March 2011 (IRIN) - The price of wheat in Pakistan has almost tripled since 2008, making people in places like the poorer suburbs of Lahore, capital of Punjab Province, wonder how they will feed their families, local residents say.

“A few years ago we paid just a little over Rs 200 [US$2.35] for a 20kg bag of wheat flour,” Saleem Yousaf, a father of four who works as a cook said. “Today, we pay over Rs 550 [$6.47] for the same amount, which lasts us less than a month, while the prices of vegetables, lentils, spices and everything else have also soared.”

Yousaf’s wife also works as a domestic help in Lahore, and together they earn Rs 12,000 [$142] per month. “Other families earn less, but we struggle hard to manage because all our four children are in school, and I really believe an education is vital to their future,” he told IRIN.

The minimum wage for workers was increased by the government from Rs 4,000 ($47) to Rs 6,000 ($70) in March 2008, but groups working for labour rights say implementation is poor.

Yousaf’s family spends Rs 4,000 each month to pay fees and buy books and stationery. Another 1,000 goes on utility bills. “Sometimes we barely manage to feed the children,” Yousaf added.

Javed Saleem, his 11-year-old son, told IRIN “We only eat at dinner time and have a mug of tea at breakfast. My parents cannot afford more.”

Other families in the impoverished Shadra area of Lahore, where Yousaf lives, face a similar situation - as do tens of thousands of others across the country.

Ironically, fields of wheat stand all around the Shadra, on the outskirts of Lahore, but the grain, which is the staple food in Punjab, is largely inaccessible to many because most of the crop is sold for export.

According to the Famine Early Warning System (FEWS NET), a combination of inflation and chronic food insecurity means many in Pakistan are vulnerable to price increases. Poverty and high food prices threaten food security, and in turn fuel inflation.

Malnutrition

“The high food prices have impacted people's ability to obtain required calories to live a healthy life,” Amjad Jamal of the UN World Food Programme Public Information Unit told IRIN from Islamabad. “The majority of Pakistanis spend half of their income on buying essential food items and are left with very little for health care and children’s education.

“This also leads to malnutrition in the longer run, which has been seen especially in the wake of recent floods, where Sindh is facing malnutrition problems,” he added.

Ghulam Nabi, a doctor in Shadra, said: “I see children brought in all the time who suffer malnutrition. They are simply not getting the calories they need and the families cannot manage to give them better food.”

The 2008 global financial and economic crisis, the displacement of about three million people in 2009 by fighting between militant groups and the Pakistani army, and the catastrophic floods in 2010 worsened the situation, he added.

According to Pakistan’s federal bureau of statistics, the consumer price index rose in February by 17.72 percent compared to the same period last year.

“My father-in-law is sick with hepatitis, but if we try to get medical care we will not be able to feed our family,” said Razia Bibi, a mother of five. She earns around Rs 6,000 ($70) a month stitching clothes. Her husband is unemployed. Since he lost his job seven months ago, the three daughters have not attended school.

IRIN Asia | PAKISTAN: Struggling to cope amid rising food prices | Pakistan | Early Warning | Food Security
 
Pakistanis should try to cultivate Baluchistan and NWFP using advanced irrigation technologies from ..ok ISRAEL..the country that excels in making deserts rainforests!!
 
Pakistanis should try to cultivate Baluchistan and NWFP using advanced irrigation technologies from ..ok ISRAEL..the country that excels in making deserts rainforests!!

:agree: they are already doing so but the biggest issue is the unnecessary hoarding and export to other countries for making bucks when own population needs the wheat first.


and everybody is involved and to be blamed for it specially traders from all provinces not one.
 

You know what?

I hate this attitude of showing the others their "place" when something is being criticized about Pakistan. Pakistanis should only be concerned about their problems, don't even bother about looking where India, Bangladesh or Maldives stand. When shall we learn to look at ourselves first? I am sorry to say but this is a sick mentality at display here.
 
2%increase in commodity prices every year is a good thing..........but according to the article increase is around 50%

Salary cannot increase with same pace.........
 
This is issue with developing countries.... Government is not able to balance inflation and development growth .
In USA after loads of government aid and negligible interest rates .. still inflation is below 2%.

We can't even think to make interest rates below 1% .. because lack of social security measures.
Only way to deal with situation is .. make special network to purchase,store ,transport and distribute the food items. At least in India I know because of lack of good storage facility and transportation network ... 40% of vegetables and fruits and gods knows how many tons of food grains are going into garbage.... We must need strict laws to handle people who keep inflating prices of such a items... I know vegetable mafias in my home town ... they control wholesale market and prices.. first and foremost thing .. politicians should not be on producer's side for food items.. Their work is just to maintain laws for same at 100%..

For middle class they have to chose between good education (which is damm costly in big cities on both the side of border) or to fill empty stomach...
 
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