EIGHT SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS HOTSPOTS FOR FOOD INSECURITY

By D. Arul rajoo

BANGKOK, April 24 (Bernama) -- Eight Southeast Asian countries are among 26
nations identified as hotspots for food insecurity in the region, according to
the Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security in Asia and the Pacific report
released by the United Nations (UN) Friday.

Cambodia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar and
the newest nation Timor Leste were cited in the report along with Afghanistan,
Nepal, Armenia, New Caledonia, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Papua New
Guinea, North Korea, Solomon Islands, Georgia, Sri Lanka, India, Tajikistan,
Maldives, Uzbekistan, Mongolia and Vanuatu.

The total population of these countries is more than 2.2 billion, which is
53.8 per cent of the region's population.

UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (Escap) executive
secretary, Dr Noeleen Heyzer said despite Asia-Pacific's rapid economic growth,
the region is home to the largest number of hungry people -- 62 per cent of the
world's undernourished.

She said any recovery from the current economic crisis would be incomplete
if the related food crisis was not addressed, as for the 583 million people
across the region, the financial crisis has become a food crisis.

"Efforts at stimulating the economies also provide us a window of
opportunity to address the systemic issues related to food insecurity.

"This report reminds us that, while the world's attention is very much on
the economic crisis, food insecurity remains a real threat," she said at the
launching here.

The report said that the most general impact of food insecurity, and
particularly rising prices, was an increase in poverty.

"In Indonesia, for example, each 10 per cent increase in the price of rice
has been estimated to reduce the spending power of the poorest tenth of the
population by two per cent," it said.

While food prices have fallen from last year's spike, they remain high,
while rising unemployment and falling incomes are putting additional pressure on
the poor and vulnerable.


"More worrying still is that, once the global economy recovers, the
pressures that drove up food prices last year will return," she said.

Heyzer said in East Asia and the Pacific, rural children are twice as likely
to be underweight as their peers in the cities.

Protectionist trade policies which drive up food prices is another cause of
food insecurity in the region as most countries in Asia and the Pacific meet
national needs through imports, the report said.

-- BERNAMA