Call for reserve stocks to counter food crisis

One of the suggestion was that social protection schemes should be introduced even in informal economy as is done in India, Thailand and other countries.
The participants said the government should increase the amount of food subsidies adequately in the budget for the fiscal 2008-09. The level of subsidies should be attached with the hike in oil prices. The realisation of productive role of women farmers in overcoming the crisis in the longer term can help reduce poverty and hunger, they added.
The speakers called on the government to ensure an effective and gender sensitive land reform scheme and massively increase investment in sustainable agriculture and land redistribution, a vital element to pull people out of poverty.
Mazhar Siraj, Research Fellow Consumer Rights Commission of Pakistan (CRCP), Tariq Mehmood, Sustainable Agriculture Action Group (SAAG), Dr.Qadir Bux Baloch, Agriculture Development Commissioner, Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (MINFAL), I.A Rehman, renowned rights activist and Director Human Rights Commission of Pakistan spoke on the occasion.
The recommendations were presented by Dr. Zafar Altaf, Former Secretary Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (MINFAL) and member of Fact Finding Committee on Food Crisis, Ms. Samina Zafar, Executive Director Potohar Organization for Development Advocacy (PODA) Dr Abid Qayyum Suleri, Executive Director, Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) and Mubarak Zeb, analyst and correspondent Dawn.