Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi (PMAS-AAUR) and Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition(GAIN), Geneva, Switzerland signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on May 27, 2021, with an aim to Develop a Sub-National dashboard for urban food systems of Rawalpindi City.

Prof. Dr.Qamar Zaman Vice Chancellor PMAS-AAUR and Ms. Farrah Naz Country Director GAIN signed the MoU on behalf of their respective organizations.

Prof Dr. Qamar Zaman stressed the need for focusing on value addition and said that high value agricultural products would help to generate better income for farmers. He urged the scientists to play their role and provide latest techniques of the productions to the farmers and value addition in their produce.

Earlier, Prof Dr Anwaar Ahmed Director Institute of Food and Nutritional Sciences (IFNS) and Principal Investigator of the project elaborated salient features of this project and said that framework for the dashboard depicts four interrelated components of food systems; food supply chains, food environments, individual factors, and consumer behavior. It also shows how these components impact diets and, ultimately, nutrition and health outcomes, he added.

This MoU will help and support policy and decision makers to understand food systems, identify levers of change and decide which ones to pull, and therefore in drafting new policies. Additionally, it depicts the drivers that push and pull food systems; climate change, globalization and trade, income growth and distribution, population growth and migration, politics and leadership, and socio-cultural context.

Under the MoU, Both organizations will coordinate their participation at high-level advocacy meetings, including appropriate forums with the food industry and consumer agencies. Both organizations will also explore the ways to gather and disseminate information on best practices and lessons learned in the area of micronutrient deficiencies and food fortification.

For the improvements of food quality, both organizations will arrange and deliver culturally-appropriate nutrition education, food literacy and skills training to children and adults through schools, health services, agricultural extension, social protection schemes and community settings.