Pakistan Bears Nearly $162 Billion Annual Toll Due to Fractured Food System

 

Pakistan Bears Nearly $162 Billion Annual Toll Due to Fractured Food System.

"Pakistan's Agrifood System Bears a Staggering $161.8 Billion in Hidden Costs Annually, Reveals FAO Analysis

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) discloses that Pakistan grapples with hidden costs amounting to around 15% of its GDP, totaling $161.8 billion.

This comprehensive analysis classifies these costs into environmental ($28.9 billion), social ($20.9 billion), and health ($112 billion) dimensions. Hidden costs encompass factors not reflected in market prices, such as negative externalities or economic losses due to various failures.

Globally, the FAO exposes the alarming truth of hidden costs in agrifood systems, reaching a staggering $10 trillion annually, nearly 10% of the world’s GDP. 

The State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA) 2023 edition emphasizes that over 70% of these costs result from unhealthy diets prevalent in high- and upper-middle-income countries, contributing to obesity, non-communicable diseases, and substantial labor productivity losses.

Environmental factors constitute a significant fifth of the total costs, attributed to issues like greenhouse gas emissions, land-use change, and water use. Low-income countries bear an outsized burden, with hidden costs exceeding a quarter of their GDP, exacerbating poverty and undernourishment.

A call for action is echoed in the report, advocating for true cost accounting (TCA) and recommending countries to conduct regular analyses followed by strategic actions to mitigate these hidden harms. The FAO emphasizes the importance of disaggregating these costs at the national level for comparability.

The forthcoming 2024 SOFA edition will delve deeper into targeted assessments to identify effective ways to mitigate these hidden costs, as Pakistan's distinct challenges emerge, with lower environmental share but heightened health-related hidden costs compared to lower-middle-income countries."