Saturday, November 16, 2013
Human interface in supervision; and Market Assessments in humanitarian response & development
Attended this month two trainings, one on human interface in supervision-the psycho-social aspects of relations between the supervisor and supervisee; and market assessments in humanitarian response in emergencies & development.Both workshops were faciltated by international experts.
Friday, September 20, 2013
Friday, September 13, 2013
'Result-oriented policies needed to boost agriculture sector'
September 04, 2013
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Speakers at a consultation moot called for devising result-oriented policies to boost agriculture sector and ensure food security in the country. Addressing National Consultation organised by Society for Conservation and Protection of Environment (SCOPE) in collaboration with Alliance Against Hunger and Malnutrition (AAHM) National Chapter Pakistan, Oxfam Novib Pakistan and Oxfam-GROW here on Tuesday, Tanveer Arif, Chief Executive, SCOPE elaborated that AAHM, which is a global network of intergovernmental organisations and civil society, formed as a follow up of World Food Summit in 2005.He said that AAHM Pakistan has developed advocacy strategy which aims at supporting government initiatives of National Food Security and Nutrition Policy and Zero Hunger Programme.
"Pakistan is far behind in reaching Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which is a global target to be achieved by 2015. Agriculture and food security development is very low in view of MDGs. Pakistan has 52 percent food insecure people. FATA tops in food insecurity, Balochistan is at second, Sindh at third and Punjab at fourth number," said Amjad Nazeer, a consultant and agriculture expert.
He said that due to poverty and unemployment, people are migrating to urban areas from rural areas. He said that right to food for people is incorporated in the Constitution and the government is duty bound to it. Hence agro-industrial and agriculture polices should be devised by incorporating public views and demands so as to overcome food insecurity and bolster agriculture sector.
President Bhandar Sangat Taj Marri said that the use of machinery is putting burden on economic position of farmers as they get a meager profit from the crop production as compared to the farming without machinery. He said the government and landlords are depriving farmers of their due rights. Corporate farming is harmful for farmers and food security.
"The corporate farming has also been started in Matiary, Thatta and Nawabshah, Mirpurkhas districts of Sindh, which needs to be stopped. He said that people of rural areas are migrating to cities due to poverty and unemployment. There is need to make hectic efforts to overcome poverty and food security issues in the country through joint efforts by civil society, Marri said.
Ali Raza Jamali, Director Agriculture Extension, Government of Balochistan, said that due to blockage of Right Bank Outfall Drain, agriculture land and cultivation in three districts of Balochistan has completely ruined in last three consecutive years that include Jafferabad, Naseerabad and Jhal Magsi. Aftab Alam Khan, International Co-ordinator ActionAid -Food /Livestock said that there is need to change crop production policies to ensure food security and benefit to farmers.
M Ijaz Hussain, Programme Manager, Sahil Development Organisation, said that Pakistan faces grain shortage despite sufficient wheat production and being seventh largest wheat producing country. He said that there is lack of facilities to the farmers as procurement cost is not being paid to them. There is also need to improve supply chain management.
Dr Wajid Pirzada, representative of UN/WFP, said that we should know the reasons behind the vulnerability of food security and conduct research. Informed policy should be devised to raise awareness among farmers about agriculture issues, so that they could be resolved amicably. He said that rural areas of Sindh are food insecure while Punjab is also victim of it despite having fertile land. Pakistan is also facing climate change challenge, which needs to be tackled in right way, he added.
Jamal Mustafa Shoro, an agriculture expert, said that feudal have become stronger as a result farmers are being affected. The input cost of farming has rising alarmingly which has put heavy burden on the farmers. He said that farmers need incentives to make their life out of trouble.-PR
Monday, June 17, 2013
Press Report-Online International News Network
Business
2-day seminar on ‘right to adequate food’ kicks-off at PARC
Dated: 2013-04-28
ISLAMABAD: A two-day Workshop on Right to Food (RTF) has been started at Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) on Saturday.
The theme of the workshop is “Right to Adequate Food” and it has been organized by Roots Pakistan a grass root development action, which is Member of Food First Information & Action Network (FIAN) International.The inaugural session was participated by delegates from abroad, diplomats, academia, researchers, policy makers, Govt officials, civil society/NGOs and the farming community.
The Chief Roots Pakistan, Dr. Syed Wajid Pirzada in his welcome and inaugural address spoke about the socio-economic system failure to address global hunger, which has reached to 850 million people, despite toll claims about development.
He said hunger is a big stigma on human face, and it is a major impediment impacting development, such as attainment of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
He underlined the need for paradigm shift in food security, realizing human rights (HR) approach where both individuals and community have access to productive resources to sustain household, national and global food security.
The German FIAN Coordinator Sabine Pabst speaking on the occasion highlighted the role of FIAN as a campaign, which seeks world face of hunger.
She said almost billion of people are suffering from hunger in the world out of which 304 million live in South Asia.
However, the major causes of hunger are wars, natural disasters, unequal distribution of food and lack of access to and control over resources.
Meanwhile, the workshop recommended that the dichotomy and conflicts in global and national policies with regard to respect and protection of human rights needs to be removed and rights based planning be instituted as a basis for policy formulation in general and for food security policy in particular to realize the paradigm shift towards food sovereignty.
The workshop is an opportunity for the participants to enhance their skills and capacity to analyze and monitor food security using right-based approach, the workshop was conducted with technical support from PARC.
Source: (Online-International News Network)
The theme of the workshop is “Right to Adequate Food” and it has been organized by Roots Pakistan a grass root development action, which is Member of Food First Information & Action Network (FIAN) International.The inaugural session was participated by delegates from abroad, diplomats, academia, researchers, policy makers, Govt officials, civil society/NGOs and the farming community.
The Chief Roots Pakistan, Dr. Syed Wajid Pirzada in his welcome and inaugural address spoke about the socio-economic system failure to address global hunger, which has reached to 850 million people, despite toll claims about development.
He said hunger is a big stigma on human face, and it is a major impediment impacting development, such as attainment of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
He underlined the need for paradigm shift in food security, realizing human rights (HR) approach where both individuals and community have access to productive resources to sustain household, national and global food security.
The German FIAN Coordinator Sabine Pabst speaking on the occasion highlighted the role of FIAN as a campaign, which seeks world face of hunger.
She said almost billion of people are suffering from hunger in the world out of which 304 million live in South Asia.
However, the major causes of hunger are wars, natural disasters, unequal distribution of food and lack of access to and control over resources.
Meanwhile, the workshop recommended that the dichotomy and conflicts in global and national policies with regard to respect and protection of human rights needs to be removed and rights based planning be instituted as a basis for policy formulation in general and for food security policy in particular to realize the paradigm shift towards food sovereignty.
The workshop is an opportunity for the participants to enhance their skills and capacity to analyze and monitor food security using right-based approach, the workshop was conducted with technical support from PARC.
Source: (Online-International News Network)
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Workshop on Emergecy Response Planning
Dr. Wajid Pirzada conducted as Lead Facilitator 2-day workshop on' Emergency Response Planning' in Quetta (Balochistan) from 7-8th June,2013 and in Kaarchi (Sindh) Pakistan from 10-11th June,2013 , organised by Food Security Cluster. The purpose of the workshop was to build the capacity of the participating organiztions in Response Analysis Framework (RAF)-led Emergency Response Planning, using RAF as a tool and a process for informed response planning in the area of Food /Nutrition and Livelihood Security.More than 60 participants representing NGOs,INGOs,donors and public/private sectors were among the beneficaries.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Dr.Pirzada speaks to Institute of Rural Management(IRM)
Dr.Wajid Pirzada spoke to Institute of Rural Management (www.irm.edu.pk ) on climate issues.The interview will be carried by IRM Newsletter namely Communique in its next issue.
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