Asian Food Security Road Map Released
- Wednesday, 25 January 2012
Background
In August 2011, the inaugural international conference on Asian Food Security took place in Singapore to discuss the way forward for Asian food security. It was attended by Future Directions International and organised by the RSIS Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies and the South-East Asian Regional Centre for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture. The final conclusions from the conference have just been published.
Comment
Food security concerns particularly came to the fore in 2007-08, when food prices of some commodities climbed sharply, leading to unrest and increasing hunger in many parts of Asia. It is estimated that about 560 million people in Asia and the Pacific are undernourished. This represents around 62 per cent of the world’s undernourished.
The conference concluded that there was an urgent need to rethink food security and promote a “doubly green revolution” that would lead to increasing food production, while reducing land degradation and the unsustainable use of fertilisers, pesticides and water.
Supermarket chains are reshaping the food supply chain and assuming greater control in Asia. In addition, the urbanisation of the region has food security ramifications. To achieve sustainable food security in the region, the conference paper suggests that a comprehensive policy and investment agenda needs to achieve the following:
- Improve small-holder productivity
- Protect vulnerable people
- Support transparent, fair and open trade
- Establish regional strategic grain reserves
- Exercise extreme caution on biofuel expansion
- Create regional frameworks for knowledge sharing and better co-ordination
The conference, which brought together leading international food security experts, went a long way in crystallising the challenges Asia faces in dealing with food security. It highlighted the inherent complexities and demonstrated the need for Asian countries to work closer together, using, where possible, existing frameworks, such as ASEAN.
There remains one hurdle.
The 2007-08 food price spike experience was driven in part by the desire of some countries for self-preservation, over and above the common Asian good. When food prices rose, countries reacted in different ways, such as by stockpiling food or buying more food than was required to shore-up food security. This only exacerbatedthe problem.
It is unlikely that it will be different next time food prices spike. While working together and being more transparent with each other might provide greater food price certainty, it is unlikely that countries will not want to take care of themselves first, before they consider any philosophical desire to care for their neighbours.
Gary Kleyn
Manager
Global Food and Water Crises Research Programme
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