Opinion in lead

Food security remains a key challenge for South Asia

The impacts of climate change, pandemic coupled with natural and manmade disasters have South Asia struggling to ensure food security for a fifth of its population. The region that is home to one-fourth of the world’s population and where agriculture contributes more than 40 percent of employment, South Asia does not seem to be on the path to meeting the zero hunger goal by 2030 as aspired under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The UN SDGs report 2022 highlights that around 828 million people suffered from hunger in 2021 and approximately one-third of the world population (2.3 billion people) were moderately or severely food insecure, which means they did not have regular access to adequate food. South Asia’s food security situation is no different, and it is still a long way from achieving Goal 2—Zero hunger. According to a report by  The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2022, extreme food insecurity in South Asian countries increased from 14.4 percent to 21 percent between 2014 and 2021. In 2022, South Asian countries accounted for 45 percent of food insecurity globally and 84 percent in Asia.

In spite of experiencing significant economic growth in recent years, reports are rife chronicling the distressed state of food security in the region. South Asia has an alarming position in the  Global Hunger Index (GHI), exhibiting the highest regional level of hunger at 27.4 in 2022 and the highest levels of stunting and wasting as well. Afghanistan is the worst-ranked (109) country according to GHI, followed by India (107), Pakistan (99), Bangladesh (84), Nepal (81) and Sri Lanka (64).  The 2022 Global Report on Food Crises highlights that in South Asia, a total of 28.73 million individuals were classified as being in crisis or worse or its equivalent. Among them, approximately 80 percent were located in Afghanistan, 16 percent resided in three provinces of Pakistan (Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Sindh), and 4 percent were in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar area.  With over a quarter of the world’s hungry and undernourished population, South Asia faces the arduous task of doubling its food production to meet the needs of its rapidly growing population, which is projected to reach 2.68 billion by 2050. Food security in South Asia is significantly impacted by climate change and the occurrence of natural disasters. Extreme heatwaves of unprecedented magnitude in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, southern Nepal, and Pakistan have posed severe risks to human life, livelihoods, agricultural productivity and economies in recent years. 

During the year 2022, Afghanistan experienced two significant earthquakes that impacted numerous individuals, along with a drought caused by the ’La Nina’ phenomenon. This drought led to the depletion of water resources, resulting in a severe decline in crop and pasture productivity and further worsening the food and economic crises in the country.  According to a report by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), India, being highly susceptible to numerous significant natural hazards, experienced a wide range of extreme weather events in 2022. These events resulted in over 3,000 human fatalities, the loss of 60,000 animal lives, and extensive damage to 2 million hectares of crops.

Pakistan experienced a devastating flood in 2022 that impacted  around 33 million individuals, with reports suggesting that 8 million people were displaced. The economic losses from the flood were estimated at approximately US$15 billion. Similarly, the northeastern region of Bangladesh was severely affected by a catastrophic flash flood, which affected approximately  7.2 million people. Additionally, Nepal faces high risks of flash floods, primarily occurring during the monsoon season. These result in a rise in food price fluctuations, heightened food insecurity, and disruptions in both food production and distribution systems.

The economic slowdown in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic deteriorated income while growing inflation within the region and globally made food unaffordable, contributing to high levels of food insecurity throughout all the countries in the region. The global focus has recently shifted towards the food crisis and insecurity resulting from the Russia-Ukraine war. The significant contributions of Ukraine and Russia to global food supply chains have had huge implications for South Asian countries, which were already grappling with hunger in the aftermath of the pandemic. The countries in the region, already facing challenges of increased commodity prices and supply limitations due to the pandemic, witnessed additional inflationary pressures as a result of higher food and oil prices. The war also caused disruptions in food production and distribution channels for staple food commodities such as wheat and oilseeds. Rising prices of chemical fertilizers further worsened food production in the last couple of years.

In South Asia,  food price inflation during the first three quarters of 2022 registered an average year-on-year increase of 20 percent, surpassing the average of 14 percent observed in most other regions. According to the  UN Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy, and Finance, the conflict situation and its subsequent impact on food prices and availability have led to an estimated range of 7.6 to 13.1 million people experiencing undernourishment in 2022. The economic crisis in Sri Lanka severely impacted the food security of the local population, while Bangladesh may be on the brink of encountering a comparable threat to its food security in the near future. Roughly 20 million people in Afghanistan, representing approximately half of the nation’s population, are grappling with food insecurity due to a combination of factors including political instability, economic sanctions imposed by the United States, and the compounding effects of climate change-induced severe droughts. The ongoing economic and financial crisis in Pakistan with mounting public debt has around six million people facing acute food insecurity as of January 2023. Furthermore, in Nepal, the average count of individuals experiencing moderate to severe food insecurity between 2019 and 2021 is approximately 11 million, which is around 37 percent of the total population of the country. This number is projected to increase due to the factors like political instability, limited economic prospects, insufficient market access, and social and gender conflicts.

South Asia is currently far from meeting the targets set for SDG-Goal Two. The region requires a more pragmatic and concerted approach to strengthen existing food and nutrition security policies. There is a need for a comprehensive understanding of the profound interlinkages between various SDGs in order to address the underlying causes of food insecurity effectively. By simultaneously addressing poverty reduction, improving health and well-being, promoting gender equality, ensuring clean water and sanitation, combating climate change, and meeting other relevant SDGs, South Asia can create a more holistic and integrated approach to enhance food security. 

Mr. Poudel is Programme Associate at SAWTEE. This article was published in Trade, Climate Change and Development Monitor, Volume 20, Issue 06, June 2023.