Modernity and the politics of food insecurity in Pakistan

Food is multidimensional in its impact and position in a society, and sociology as a wide framework encompassing multiple spectrums of thought is the most apt framework to study it. In the developing world, food insecurity has been a problem for ages, and Pakistan, as a developing country, has its stream of problems and factors that contribute to the persistence of this issue. Besides playing a crucial role in human sustenance, food can also be perceived as a modicum of achieving Weberian modernity in a society, where predictable and calculable measures of producing and distributing food can lead to a modern, efficient society. The downside of this can be a subsequent commodification of food, as identified by Frederick Magdoff, making it a product to be sold, rather than a human necessity. This is magnified by the dependence on the developed countries under the world-systems model, where food is imported based on interests that do not match the general public. While Pakistan identifies the importance of advancing the society systematically in the food sector, and there seems to be attempts to introduce greater predictability and calculability in the agricultural industry, its various issues, such as an unpredictable, unchecked increase in population, thrust the country back into food insecurity. Combined with another Weberian nemesis of a modern society; the lack of adequate awareness and knowledge leads the country into a situation where food is no doubt commodified, but without the achievement of modernizing the sector or society as desired, giving rise to other problems such as impersonality of farmers, while sustaining it is already present problems. Secondary data analysis is used to conduct this research, and it contributes by providing an insight into the different factors of food insecurity, using data from vi the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, the World Bank, the United Nations, The Economist, and the World Food Program.