That goal is a distant prospect in the impoverished Central Asian country as it faces the twin challenges of low agricultural output and climate change.
A third of the Tajik population of 10 million people is malnourished.
And half of all available food is imported, according to the UN World Food Programme (WFP), meaning that the country's food security "is at the mercy of brutal fluctuations in price".
The government has declared food security a "national strategic objective" and Rakhmon, who has been in power since 1992, has urged every family to maintain food reserves that would last for up to two years, just in case.
- 'Day to day' -
It is a tall order for Tajiks like Zarif Gaforov, a 60-year-old plumber.
"I cannot make reserves for two years," he told AFP in the capital Dushanbe. "There is nothing to stock up on -- everything would go bad."
Gaforov said he kept stocks of flour, potatoes, onions and butter, "enough for the winter".
At a local supermarket, Mavchuda Obedova said she was stocking up on water, flour and grains "as the president advised".
But stocking up large amounts of food is impossible for most people in Tajikistan, where the average monthly income is less than 200 euros ($217), the lowest of any former Soviet republic.
"We buy food from day to day," said 30-year-old nurse Mavzuna Chakalova. "If we earned more money, we would build reserves."
Around 60 percent of her household budget goes toward food, several times more than in many Western countries.
- Mountains of fruit -
Climate change is aggravating the problem: Frequent landslides destroying arable land while melting glaciers are producing less runoff each summer, which can lead to water shortages and droughts that contribute to soil erosion.
"The president's calls to build up reserves of food... are important against the backdrop of climate change," said Bakhodur Rakhmonalizoda, an official from the Tajik food security committee.
"In Tajikistan, around 70 percent of the population live in rural areas where access to food could be complicated in the case of natural disasters," he said.
For this reason, he said, the state stockpiles emergency food supplies in secret quantities and locations around the mountainous country.
Complicating the problem is an inefficient agriculture sector, which accounts for around 23 percent of the economy and employs 60 percent of the population, according to international organisations.
"We have to work harder, to use the land and the water in an effective way, and produce as many products as possible," Rakhmon urged farmers last month.
He has also banned food waste as part of his efforts, calling it "an obstacle to the increase in the quality of life of the population".
That has not stopped the president from putting on lavish displays of food.
Foreign leaders are regularly welcomed with mountains of apples reaching several metres high, or piles of grapes and melons.
On one such visit in 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin was presented with six trucks filled with fruit for his 70th birthday.
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