Food Poverty and its Causes in Pakistan

The issue of malnutrition is vital in Pakistan. Recentempirical literature on this issue highlights some causes of poverty andmalnutrition such as lower purchasing power of money, larger householdsize, low education, large number of dependents, age of the head of thehousehold etc. [See Ehtisham and Ludlow (1989) and Havinga et al.(1989)]. But we feel that much more can be explored other than whatprevious literature has contributed to explain the causes of poverty and’malnutrition in Pakistan. For example how the poor perceive hunger orstarvation in society, the role of traditional diet patterns inmalnourishment and critical evaluation of poverty indices. Suchinformation is also important for the correct application of foodpolicies in the country. 1Wo steps are needed to explore this issue: 1.Correct evaluation of the severity of poverty; and 2. To collect maximuminformation about the causes of poverty.