Govt to establish centralised database of essential food items

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has decided to establish a centralised database for collecting data related to essential food commodities.

Sources said that the Ministry of National Food Security and Research (MNFS&R) has asked the federal cabinet to approve a legislation for a centralised database with the mandate to collect information related to essential food commodities in this regard. 

The ministry has maintained that it is important that a central database along with a dashboard is established at the federal level in order to monitor and regulate the production, supply, demand and prices of food items.  

“The primary objective is to access relevant action and take timely decisions to prevent shortages, hoarding, profiteering market distortions and ensure smooth supply of essential commodities to the masses,” sources added. 

The federal government is responsible to ensure the inter-provincial flow of essential food commodities, fix support or indicative price of essential food commodities and minimise food deficiency and malnutrition.

It is imperative that the federal and provincial governments work in harmony and share real-time data with each other in order to achieve the above-stated objective, the ministry emphasised.

The ministry lamented that adequate legal and institutional framework which binds federal and provincial governments and organisations working under their control to share data essential to ensure food security in the country is not available.