By Ed Javier / BusinessMirror/Philippines Graphic/DWIZ
THIS columnist journeyed to Vietnam, one of Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing emerging economies, and witnessed firsthand how the country has transformed itself from being a nation once ravaged by war into a bastion of food security in the Asia Pacific.
In a forum on global food security, we heard Prof. Paul Teng, senior fellow at the Center for Non-Traditional Security Studies at the Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Nanyang Technological University of Singapore.
Professor Teng sounded a clarion call for government policy-makers in the Asia-Pacific region to give top priority to food security. This is an urgent matter that we could no longer afford to ignore, or else we are in for a hard landing as far as food supply is concerned.
The stakes are high. The deterioration of nutrition and health, as well as the twin specter of hunger and death stalking the land, would most likely give rise to the social evils of civil unrest, and of economic and political instability.
Threats to food security
NOW, more than ever, there is a growing need for food security as demand for food is driven to new heights by rising populations and the need for higher calorie consumption.
According to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), we may see the explosion of global population to 9 billion people resulting in a projected 50-percent growth in the demand for major crops by the year 2050. Also, environmental stresses are increasing, as the change in climate is already reducing water and arable land needed for food production. Data from the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) show that in 1950, for instance, 1 hectare could feed two people. But by 2030, 1 hectare of arable land will be compelled to produce food for five people.
In the long term, we will see increasing crop-price volatility brought about by heightened government intervention, ongoing demand growth, and the challenges of creating the right demand and supply balance for efficient production.
Professor Teng pointed out that in 2007 and 2008 alone, there were food riots in 47 countries. As The Economist ominously displayed in its cover, we are seeing the close of an era, which it dubbed as “The End of Cheap Food.”
Recent events this year further raised the cause for alarm. Due to a drought in the corn and soybean belt of the United States, we saw a drop in supply by 12 percent to 13 percent. Price increases by as much as 35 percent are expected by the first half of 2013, Teng further said.
Why Asia should be concerned
HE noted that food production has also been hampered in Asia by external volatile factors, such as the army worm pest outbreaks in China, severe flooding in the Philippines and massive drought in India, among other disasters. The potential for export restrictions could likewise precipitate adverse reactions, like panic among consumers.
We agree with Professor Teng that these factors should be a major cause for concern in the Asia-Pacific region. Just imagine: Asia has 60 percent of the world’s population. It has six of the top 10 most populous countries in the world. It has half the world’s urban population in 11 megacities.
Add to that the fact that more than half of the world’s slum population is in Asia. Throw in the data that 60 percent of the world’s undernourished live here, too.
More alarming facts: Compared to its population, Asia has only 34 percent of the world’s arable land and only 36 percent of the world’s water resources. Furthermore, the yield growth of maize, rice and wheat in Asia has either only modestly increased or has been declining since 2007. It is projected to continue declining until 2012 at the rate of 1 percent a year. The number of farmers is also going, and aging.
As a result, Asia has become a net importer of corn by more than 39 percent, soybean by more than 69 percent and wheat by 27 percent. Add to that the increasing use of grain as biofuels, and the threat to food security in the region becomes even more inevitable.
The bottom line is that in order to maintain food security, we must do more with less. Amid the triple whammy characterized by the huge rise in demand, limited farmland and limited water supplies, we still need to continue raising the yield of our crops.
Addressing the threats
IT becomes increasingly urgent, therefore, for society to harness the power of new agriculture technologies that would develop new rice and corn varieties and crop-management techniques in order to help farmers in an environmentally sustainable way.
It is also imperative for us to create novel solutions to the problems concerning the impending critical shortage of arable land on which to grow crops to feed the growing world population. Sustainable agricultural practices and the protection of land resources have become absolutely necessary.
Professor Teng outlined the crucial areas in which government must take action and concentrate on when formulating new policies in order to arrest the impending food crisis and ensure the equitable supply of food:
1 Ensuring the availability of food by reviewing agricultural policies that would increase agricultural productivity and reduce waste.
2 Enhancing physical access to food by improving infrastructure and transport systems that would link farmers to markets.
3 Improving economic access by instituting safety nets and social programs for farmers and building their entrepreneurial skills.
4 Improving health care for farmers and educating them about food safety and hygiene, and monitoring their nutritional progress.
It is imperative for countries in the Asia-Pacific region to lay the foundations that would reduce poverty and hunger, improve the health of farmers and consumers, and ensure environmental sustainability through more robust partnerships and agricultural research.
Key private-sector support
MULTINATIONAL private companies of agricultural products have taken up the cudgels to help face the issues, challenges and opportunities of agricultural economies.
Helping to address this increasing threat are companies, which seek to bring greater food security in an environmentally sustainable way to an increasingly populous world by increasing worldwide farm productivity.
For instance, these companies are helping reduce poverty by providing equal access to information and knowledge on improved technologies that enhance the production of rice, corn, soybean and wheat, among others.
This would help ensure that food production is stable and sustainable, has minimal negative environmental impact, and can cope with climate change.
They have gone to the extent of proposing financing strategies to ensure the sustainability of the food and agribusiness supply chains in the agriculture sector.
The Swiss-based firm Syngenta, for instance, has invested more than $1 billion annually in research and development, and has presently over 5,000 R&D staff, with more than 26,000 employees in 90 countries.
It is present in 14 countries in the Asia Pacific and in Asean. Syngenta is a leading innovator in technologies that transform how crops are grown. Its success stories in boosting rice, corn and coffee production in Indonesia, as well as Thailand and Vietnam, serve as textbook examples in bringing plant potential to life while considering the needs of growers at the same time.
Beyond borders
EXPERTS agree that the world can no longer afford to ignore the issue of food security. We are living in an increasingly borderless world where the concerns of one region, or even just one country can wreak havoc globally.
The FAO of the United Nations succinctly states: Food security “exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary need and food preferences for an active and healthy life.”
As Professor Teng pointed out, food security is the foundation for sustainable development. It will serve us well to keep this in mind. Our very lives will depend on it.
No comments:
Post a Comment