I remember vividly the scenario of our family farm three decades ago. We were an average sized farming family from Central Punjab, and our output back then is telling. Let us start with some basic statistics. My grandfather would have, on average, three milking animals. On average, each one would yield eight liters of milk daily at 40 grams of protein per liter. That comes to 320 grams per animal and a total of 960 grams of protein on a daily basis. For a good-sized family of 10 family members, it would be almost 96 grams per member. The only dairy product we could sell was desi ghee, or the ‘fat’.

This meant all of the protein was left for ourselves. It would either be consumed either by the family or shared within our village as ‘lassi’, which came as a by-product of the ghee making process. Now imagine only half the population of our village as animal owners, which translates into approximately 50 grams of protein for each member of our village. Of course, the distribution was not exactly equitable, but the overall average for our fellow villagers was much more than the World Health Organization recommendations of at least 0.8 grams of protein per kg of body weight per day.

Any serious effort to understand ‘malnutrition’ in Pakistan must focus on the most critical macro nutrient: protein. Pakistan, except for some parts, was blessed to have a great source of high-quality protein. Up until the 1990s, an average Pakistani would have a lot higher muscle mass and taller stature than today’s youth. We may attribute it to many factors, but the consensus among health experts........

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