Pakistan floods: ancient grains like millet could be key to rebuilding food systems (The Conversation) 

The Conversation published a story focusing on devastating 2022 floods in Pakistan which affected 33 million people, with over 2 million homes destroyed and over 8 million people displaced in a region which already struggles with high rates of malnutrition.

This is not the first time Pakistan has been devastated by flooding. When floods last devastated Pakistan in 2010, an analysis by the International Food Policy Research Institute argued that, as a country with just under 40% of the population employed in agriculture, Pakistan needed to invest in the recovery of its farming sector as a priority.

The article also refers to IFPRI’s 2022 Global Food Policy Report in discussion of possible solutions for climate-proofing agriculture in Pakistan and other vulnerable regions. “Cultivating a wider choice of crops would let farmers compensate for falling yields as intensifying heatwaves make wheat cultivation increasingly difficult. These alternative grains are typically favoured by farmers with less than two acres of land in Asia and Africa. Their cultivation could reduce poverty in these rural communities by allowing farmers to sell their produce in global markets”.