ASIA’S FOOD SUPPLY COULD FACE CHALLENGES AS POPULATION AND DEMAND GROW

By Manik Mehta

NEW YORK, Sept 30 (Bernama) -- While almost everyone talks about Asia’s
mind-boggling growth projections, with China, India and Southeast Asia playing
the pivotal role of drivers of this growth, the world has not raised the siren -
yet - on any acute food scarcities so far.

Asia’s food supply has grown and is still growing, though it is not keeping
pace with population growth and rising demand.

A task force set up by the New York based Asia Society in conjunction with
the Manila-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), says in its
latest report that the number of people suffering from chronic hunger, for the
first time in history, crossed the one billion mark globally in 2009, with Asia
accounting for approximately for two-thirds of the world’s hungry.

At a well-attended seminar on Monday in New York, which included many ASEAN
diplomats and officials, the Asia Society and the IRRI together presented a
report called “Never an Empty Bowl: Sustaining Food Security in Asia”.

Some of the panelists included Dan Glickman, former U.S. Secretary of
Agriculture, C. Peter Timmer, Professor of Development Studies, Emeritus,
Harvard University, Noeleen Heyzer, executive secretary, UN Economic and Social
Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), Ong Keng Yong, Singapore’s
ambassador-at-large and former secretary general of ASEAN, Ursula
Schaefer-Preuss, vice president, Knowledge Management and Sustainable
Development at the Asian Development Bank, Robert Zeigler, Director General of
the IRRI.

Traditionally, improvements in rice technology and in farm productivity have
been the main avenue for addressing problems related to food security.

"Indeed, rice availability and food security have long been synonymous in
Asia, especially in the political arena," exclaimed Vishaka N. Desai, the
president of Asia Society.

The dominance of rice remains a reality in Asia’s food security.
Consequently, rice production should not be ignored while countries focus on
industrialisation, she said.

The task force realises that food security extends well beyond the role of
rice production and consumption; its report provides an assessment of the
non-rice dimensions of food security in Asia. The way forward, according to the
task force, would be through a "rice lens", with all of the broader dimensions
incorporated through that lens.

However, all the panelists emphasized the importance of agriculture,
particularly rice which continues to be Asia’s staple.

Peter Timmer urged Asian governments to create safety nets when all is going
well and not start acting only when there is a crisis.

Ong Keng Yong said that there was unanimity amongst the ASEAN countries that
want to secure food supply. However, this had not taken place because of
different priorities. Ong said that there were two rice reserves in the ASEAN
region - the Inter-Asian rice reserve created in the 1970s and the “ASEAN + 3”
(China, Korea and Japan) rice reserve which helps mitigate the shortage.

"Indonesia, a rice-producing country, has faced a shortfall of rice because
of various reasons. The impact of urbanisation is being felt..," he said.

However, the most comprehensive articulation of ASEAN’s position on food
security and agricultural development is contained in the Strategic Plan of
Action on ASEAN Cooperation in Food, Agriculture and Forestry, which grew out of
the 1997 Hanoi Plan of Action to establish a “concert” of Southeast Asian
nations by 2020.

Largely considered a success story in regional cooperation - this cannot be
said of the South Asian cooperation group SAARC - the Hanoi Plan of Action
continues to guide ASEAN efforts towards enhanced food security and
competitiveness of agricultural and forestry products from the region in the
global market.

The task force report maintains that ASEAN’s efforts to establish a regional
rice reserve stock as a response to emergencies has been one of the most
innovative approaches addressing food insecurity in the region. “The Agreement
(on the ASEAN Food Security Reserve signed in 1979) obligated countries to set
aside a nationally controlled Emergency Rice Reserve and established a Food
Security Reserve Board to oversee a total initial rice allocation of 50,000
metric tonnes,” the report says.

Stock levels were raised in 1997 to 67,000 total metric tonnes of rice, with
Thailand and Vietnam holding the largest stock at 15,000 and 14,000 metric
tonnes respectively. By 2004, the rice reserve stock rose again to 87,000 metric
tonnes with the inclusion of new members into ASEAN, but the scheme never gained
the needed traction to be a reliable system for rice emergencies in the region.

Cambodia, Indonesia and Myanmar were given disaster and malnutrition
assistance in the past under the programme. Rice stocks would increase
substantially to a total of 787,000 metric tonnes, with 250,000 metric tonnes
coming from Japan, 300,000 from China and 150,000 from South Korea, and the
remaining 87,000 from the ASEAN countries. Discussions to make the new reserve
scheme permanent are currently underway, with members of the ASEAN + 3 meeting
in October 2010 to finalise an agreement.

--BERNAMA




Delete & Prev | Delete & Next