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Problems of urban
food security
Lahore, having a population of 7.5 millions and covering an
area of 347 square km,like other cities of the Third World, is
facing the problem of food insecurity as the demand and supply
situation, especially of perishable items , has become grave
following the rapid influx of population from its adjoining
rural areas.
The specific eating trends and inadequate supply of various
food-items in changing seasons have greatly influenced the
marketing system of these commodities.
Most of the perishables,-milk, meat, and vegetables- are
supplied to the urban areas from the distant villages.
Presently, the daily milk consumption of Lahore is 2 million
liters, out of which 1.3 million raw un-pasteurised milk is
brought from far-flung areas and the rest-0.7 million- is made
available in pasteurised/packed form. The processing is
accomplished in a limited number at various plants, which are
situated in the distant areas of the province.
The expensive and inadequate transportation system and the
lack of preservation/processing facilities make the milk
dearer. Almost 15 per cent of the raw milk is wasted due to
deficient chilling/pasteurisation facilities. There is neither
organized dairy farming, nor any supply system. The milk is
surplus in the peak production periods of dairy animals (from
August to February) but there is no provision of utilising
this surplus through dehydration plants. Moreover, dairy
animals have been removed from urban areas due to
environmental issues. and producers had also to shift to
distant rural areas because of the high land cost in the urban
areas.
Taking advantage from the situation, the middleman supplies a
large quantity of adulterated milk to urban population. A
survey conducted by the local Food Security Department
revealed the high prevalence of zoonotic tuberculosis and
brucellosis in food animals-an alarming situation which needs
urgent measures for quality control.
Meat is mostly obtained from animals like sheep, goats,
cattle, buffaloes, and its daily consumption is almost 0.6
million kg. Out of this, 2.4 million kg meat is poultry and
0.35 million kg from all other animals. There is no modern
meat processing system.It is mostly manual and unhygienic.
Although there are four slaughter-houses in Lahore, 25 per
cent slaughtering of large and small animals is unlawful.
Since there is an insignificant number of poultry processing
plants, most of slaughtering is done at shops under most
unhygienic conditions, creating a risky health environment.
The vegetable supply is also inadequate and its supply and
distribution system almost primitive lacking proper marketing
system. Farmers of urban areas mostly grow vegetables on their
lands which results in less supply from distant areas. There
is also great wastage of vegetables before they reach
consumers because of the lack of storing facilities.
The absence of a comprehensive marketing system and the
presence of more than one channels between producers and the
consumers has aggravated the situation. The middleman collects
maximum share and leaves marginal profit for producers.
Moreover, these middlemen charge heavy prices from consumers
and pay less to producers.
Remedial measures: The present scenario is alarming in deed.
The situation is likely to become worse because of the
continuing migration to urban areas. A three-pronged strategy
evolved after a thorough analysis of causal factors is given
here. Its key features are:
i) Developing zones for animal production (ZAP); using cattle
colonies and the belt of Ravi for raising animals to meet milk
requirements; ii) Development of special areas for perishable
production (SAPP) in the part-urban areas of the metropolis to
increase the 20 per cent area of the vegetable production. And
a comprehensive marketing system to regulate the demand and
supply of perishables item in various seasons of the year;
iii) establishing preservation, processing and quality control
system for sustainable supply of quality food items.
The officials of the City District Government, have planned
execution of these steps at the local level. To break the
chain of middlemen from vegetable and fruit markets, a system
of producer's markets (Sunday bazaars and Green Channel) have
been organized to facilitate producers. A new abattoir system
to improve the existing meat supply with following objectives
has also been devised:
i. Hygienic supply of meat;
ii. Efficient utilization of by-products;
iii. Environment friendly system; and
iv. Economic resource generation.
These remedial measures have reasonably improved the supply
and distribution of perishables. Producers and consumers are
benefiting from the newly introduced system. In spite of the
above-mentioned reforms, quality of the food items has yet to
be ensured.
The quality control measures could not be adopted so far due
to multiplicity of organizational set-up, lack of trained
manpower and laboratory facilities. This system is expected to
ensure sustainable supply of perishables to meet food
requirements of local population and reasonable export of
these commodities.
courtesy Daily Dawn, 8
April, 2002
Views
presented here are of those of the writer and Pakissan.com is
not liable them.
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