Intl Population Day: Call of repeated sensitization of masses against overpopulation
PESHAWAR (APP): Every year, world population day is marked on this day to sensitize masses against overpopulation and its adverse effects on food security, socioeconomic services and living creatures on earth.
Like other provinces, the day was also observed in Khyber Pakthunkhwa where the government and private institutions organized special functions, seminars and walks, highlighting significance of the controlled population and ill effects of overpopulation especially on sustainability of environment, education and healthcare services, food, agriculture, livestock, wildlife and other creatures living on earth.
The population welfare department of KP, NGO, civil society and general public organized awareness functions and rallies to educate masses against the negative effects of overpopulation.
The day was observed on July 11, 1987 after the world population reached the five billion mark. The call was made by Dr KC Zachariah, a senior Demographer at the World Bank who suggested that July 11 should be observed as world population day every year. The theme of this year’s World Population Day is ‘leave no one behind, count everyone.”
The UN World Population Report 2022 has revealed that the world’s population was growing fast and is likely to reach 8.5 billion in 2030, 9.7 billion in 2050 and 10.4 billion in 2100. Like other developing countries, Pakistan was also confronted toi the monster challenge of overpopulation having around 243 million people with 1.91 percent annual growth rate recorded early this year.
Being the fifth most populous country in the world and second largest population in the Muslims countries after Indonesia, Pakistan’s increasing population started exerting tremendous pressures on agriculture, forests, biodiversity and food services.
Overpopulation has emerged as big social issue for Pakistan that not only poses enormous challenges to food security but also causes economic imbalances, poverty, encourages corruption and undermines merits and development in the country, said Niaz Ali Khan, former Chief Conservator of Forests while talking to APP.
Forests and wildlife resources in lower alpine areas in northern KP and Gilgit Balistan is under tremendous pressure due to population explosion, he said, adding national animal of Markhor, Ibex, Snow Leopards besides green gold including Dodara and pine forests in higher mountainous areas were also under heightening pressure of increased population budge.
Underlining the need for special policies to control population, he said the Govt needs to encourage cash value crops and growing tree species in the wake of uncontrolled population to fulfill their food needs in years to come.
He said the uncontrolled population was eating the country’s resources like a termite and time has come to think seriously about addressing this issue before it create hunger and starvation for people.
Having only 20 percent domestic production of total requirement, the country spends approximately US$ 4 billion annually on import of edible oil to meet the pressing demand of its around 243 million population.
Pakistan’s annual requirement of edible oil is about five million tons (MT) with approximately 16kg per capita use and most of its chunk is imported from Malaysia and Indonesia,” said Dr Ehsan Khan, Director Edible Oil Productivity Institute.
Over 4.4 million hectares of fertile land is suitable for cultivation of olive, sunflower, soybean, corn, canola and other oils in Pakistan. In 2006, he said edible oil’s import bill was only US$ 615 million that jumped to US$ 3.8 billion in 2022 with the country producing around six MT. If edible oil prices increase by five percent annually, the country’s imports would further jump and in this situation, sunflower, olive, canola and other products would go beyond common man’s reach.
He said Spain was producing about 45 percent of the world’s total edible oil by utilizing 2.6 million hectares of land while Pakistan, despite having vast tracts of fertile land, was importing around 80 percent of the required commodity that was insufficient for the growing country’s population.
About 100,000 and 300,000 hectare land in Azad Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan was now being used for sunflower and canola cultivation respectively. ‘Enhancement of Productivity of Oil Seeds’ project was launched in 2019-20 to promote edible oil farming to fulfill the food requirement of the growing population.
Alike, first olive promotion project worth Rs 3.82 billion funded by the Government of Italy was launched on June 1, 2012 to cultivate oil seeds on over 1,500 hectare land to meet people’s growing edible oil needs. The project was later handed over to Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) on February 12, 2012 and was completed on June 30, 2015.
To capitalize on this project, the Pakistani government launched ‘Promotion of Olive Trees Cultivation on Commercial Scale (POTCCS)’ project worth Rs 3.2 billion in 2015 for increasing production of edible oil. He said we need to promote edible oil and rice farming besides increasing wheat cultivation areas to check prices of oil commodities in the wake of population explosion.
Sunflower was a cost-efficient crop with three months tenure, and that farmers can easily earn Rs 200,000 to Rs 250,000 from one acre sunflower as compared to Rs 130,000 to Rs 150,000 from one acre olive.
A four-year ‘Edible Oil Seeds’ PSDP project has also been launched across the country with 50% shared financing by Federal and Provincial Governments. Eight oil processing and purification plants in different research centers were setup at Bajaur, Peshawar, Lower Dir, Swat and Kohat districts to facilitate edible oil farmers.
Around 70 million wild olive plants have been discovered in merged tribal districts and Malakand, Hazara, Peshawar, Kohat, Karak, Nowshera, Hangu and Chitral. Over 1.2 million olive plants on 1,300 hectares were planted in the province and each tree produces three kilograms of oil,” he said, adding a farmer can earn Rs 450,000 from 1,500 kg of olive.
He said these endeavours were being made keeping in view the future requirement of the growing population of Pakistan.
The experts suggested for preparation of videos for social media for education and awareness of the general public against overpopulation.
