The edible oil imports bill rising from Rs. 77 million in 1969-70 to Rs. 3,900 million in 2002-03 has overburdened the economy of the country. Only 30% of the total needs are met through local production, while 70% are provided by import. Major share of the domestic production of edible oil comes from cottonseed and canola, 67 and 19.6%, respectively. The remaining 13.4% are contributed mainly by sunflower. Although it is a high oil, high yielding crop that gives high returns to the farmers, no serious effort has been made to increase the local production of sunflower. Consequently, the sunflower acreage declined from 144,191 ha in 1998-99 to 107,717 ha in 2002-03 and the production from 194,544 to 128,531 t during the same period. The 1998-99 acreage was the maximum area under sunflower achieved. The big fluctuations in sunflower acreage and production are due to its price on the market. In the period of last 15 years, the sunflower acreage in Pakistan expended from 29,500 to 107,700 ha. The sunflower production rose at the annual rate of 9.9%, comprised of a 9.7% expansion in acreage and a minor improvement in productivity amounting to 0.16%. This increase was not sufficient to meet the requirements of the country. There is a big gap between the potential and actual yields of sunflowers. More than 70% of the potential have not been achieved yet. For this purpose the R 2 value was also calculated and, keeping in view the fluctuations in the time series data, second-degree equation was also measured. Logarithmic and exponential functions were also tested but the variability in the data measured by the R 2 value was best represented by seconddegree polynomial function. When the data seem to depart more or less widely from linearity in regression or time series analysis we must consider fitting some other curve instead of the straight line. The R 2 value was also improved with second-degree polynomial function for production from 43% to 58% showing a better fit of the trend line. The sum of the error terms was "0" for second-degree polynomial function but it gave a better fit due to a higher R 2 value. The higher b value for production portrays an increase in the productivity. The sum of squares for the estimated and observed values was 0. However, due to a low value of the coefficient of determination with linear trend and variation in the data, second-degree polynomial function (parabola) was estimated which gave a higher value of the coefficient of determination. With the use of

The Policy Analysis Matrix (PAM) methodology was used to determine the level of economic efficiency and competitiveness in the production of rice crops in Pakistan’s Punjab. The methodology was also used to assess the effect of policy intervention on the production of Basmati and IRRI rice crops. The results indicate that an expansion of the production of Basmati rice can lead to an increase in exports. The production of IRRI in Pakistan’s Punjab is characterized by a lack of economic efficiency implying inefficient use of resources to produce the commodity. On the other hand, both Basmati and IRRI rice production in the Punjab demonstrate a lack of competitiveness at the farm level for the period under analysis. The analysis shows that the prevailing incentive structure affected farmers negatively. A negative divergence between private and social profits implies that the net effect of policy intervention is to reduce the farm level profitability of both rice production systems in Punjab. The results highlight the need for removing existing policy distortions in the structure of economic incentives to enhance economic efficiency and to attain farm level competitiveness in rice production.

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This study covers only SDG target 2.1 (2.1.1-Prevalance of Undernourishment and 2.1.2-Food Insecurity Experience Scale). Though FAO is the custodian organization for estimating these targets across the globe, however, it is the first ever attempt for estimating these targets by PARC-MNFS&R. HIES data for the year 2018-19 has been used for estimation of these targets and compared with the results of HIES-2015-16 estimated by FAO. According to the results 18.38 percent households are undernourished in Pakistan and this situation is worse in urban areas (23.43%) compared with rural areas (16.61%). Punjab has highest proportion of undernourished individuals/households with 21.48 percent followed by Sindh province with 17.40 percent households. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has the lowest proportion of 12.67 percent and Baluchistan with 16.95 percent households. National level results of FIES supports the results of PoU except urban/rural order. According to FIES results, about 16 percent of the households (individuals) are moderate and/or severe food insecure with more than 02 percent as severe food insecure in Pakistan. Sindh province shows highest proportion with more than 19 percent followed by KP province with nearly 17 percent households as moderate and severe food insecure.  However, highest proportions of more than 03 percent households were found as severe food insecure in Punjab province. In conclusion Pakistan has shown tremendous achievements towards the Zero Hunger Targets by 2030, however, more efforts are needed for sustainable agriculture and food system in order to address the food insecurity level through better access and availability of food. Awareness campaign about healthy and nutritious food intake, and measures for adoption of dietary guidelines are recommended for preventing undernourishment.

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