l Asia coped well with food crises from 2007 to 2012, and prices lately have been stabilising, albeit well above pre-crisis levels. However, the underlying supply-demand problems laid bare during six years of price surges remain, and are a major hurdle to achieving food security.
On the supply side, slowing gains in agricultural productivity, overexploitation of natural resources and increasing risks of climate change and natural disasters are critical concerns. Industry experts paint a mixed picture for food security solutions; however, they all agree that future success depends on well-funded agricultural research, technology dissemination and political will.
Rapid economic growth has given many people in Asia more disposable income, stoking consumerism and higher rates of urbanisation. With population growth and affluence come changes in diet (eating more meat more regularly for example) that have profound implications.
On the negative side, Asia remains home to 67% of the world’s hungry (552 million people) and more than 900 million people who subsist on less than $1.25 per day. As these people spend a large share of their income on food, higher and more volatile food prices hurt them the most.
Rising demand and population have made Asia a net importer of food, according to data from Cargill, a major international producer of food products and services. The Middle East and Africa also have food deficits but most people probably would not have put Asia in the same category.
While surpluses in other regions (see chart at top right) can meet demand in food-short regions, improvements in agricultural productivity to offset rising demand must be accelerated, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
“If the problems of agricultural productivity are not addressed, it is quite possible that food security will be a recurrent world and regional concern in the coming decades, potentially jeopardising Asia’s economic growth,” said an ADB report titled “Food Security Challenges in Asia”.
The same study said food security should be viewed within the context of the broader structural transformation as the region becomes increasingly urban and non-agricultural.
Although the contribution of agriculture to national income inevitably declines during this process, the rural share of employment remains high. One big concern is what happens to rural people who cannot make the transition to employment in the urban economy.
If the region wants to see inclusive economic growth, a vibrant rural economy based on both a dynamic agriculture sector and growing rural nonfarm incomes is essential.
“It is very crucial to keep young generations on the farm. The average age of farmers in the region is increasing in almost every country. We need to support small-scale farmers and try to make them remain competitive, give them knowledge to improve quality and yield, and how to bring their products to the market,” said Hiroyuki Konuma, assistant director-general and regional representative for Asia and the Pacific with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
The FAO, he said, had set a target to reduce hunger to less than 12% globally by 2015. The current ratio in Asia Pacific is 13.5%, while Asean is well ahead of its peers at 10.7%, down from 31% in 1990.
“Thailand and Vietnam have shown significant improvement in this aspect, particularly due to the rise of the middle class which gives people higher purchasing power. Whereas for Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and the Philippines, they still have some work to improve,” said Mr Konuma.
“More investment in agricultural research to improve productivity should be made, as investment in this area has been declining sharply over the past 10 years.”
That view is shared by Dr Sarasin Viraphol, executive vice-president of Charoen Pokphand Group (CP), Thailand’s largest agriculture-based conglomerate. CP’s business benefits significantly from agricultural technology, and he urged governments in the region to provide more support for research and development (R&D).
“Particularly in Thailand, the private sector has been playing an increasingly important role in R&D, while the government sector has yet to give sufficient support and sponsorship,” Dr Sarasin told Asia Focus. “Policies that advocate food and agricultural business as well as academic knowledge that can be distributed to food producers must be prioritised.
“I wish to see bureaucrats become more service-oriented.”
Food waste or food being lost before it reaches consumers is another major concern across Asia. Poor planning, lack of storage facilities, weak transport systems, crop diseases and parasites are among the many causes. The FAO estimated that around 35% of food is lost between harvest and distribution across the Asia-Pacific region.
Most of the losses occur before food reaches consumers, at the production, postharvest and processing stages, according to the FAO report “Global Food Losses & Food Waste”. However, there is also a growing problem of waste by supermarkets, restaurants and consumers, which largely reflects the region’s greater urbanisation.
“In Asean, 6.6 million tonnes of food are wasted annually in distribution from farm to market. In the region’s most populated country, Indonesia, food wastage is up to 40%,” said Dr Somchai Laohaverapanich, managing director of DuPont (Thailand), a global science-based products and service company.
He stressed the importance of cutting-edge technology in various fields such as material science, biotechnology and industrial bioscience to improve food quality and at the same time prolong shelf life and reduce waste.
DuPont, he said, was now allocating as much as 60% of its R&D funds to studying food megatrends and related technology fields, aiming to help farmers increase yields and improve sustainability and safety in food.
A good example is the “bread solution” project which uses enzymes for prolonged softness and shelf life. Dr Somchai said the project had been very successful in Vietnam and Indonesia.
“Our ingredients are inside every fourth loaf of bread produced by the bakery industry worldwide. The enzyme powder which is included during the milling process from wheat to flour can provide long-lasting softness and freshness, extending shelf life while maintaining eating quality,” he said.
On an encouraging note, East Asia and the Pacific was one of the few regions to experience an overall improvement in food security during the last quarter of last year, according to the Global Food Security Index 2013, developed by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). The index, commissioned by DuPont, assesses which countries are most and least vulnerable to food insecurity by covering factors such as affordability, accessibility, availability and food safety.
Among Asean countries, Singapore scored the highest with a ranking of 16th overall (out of 107 countries), followed by Malaysia (36th), Thailand (46th), Vietnam (61st), Philippines (64th), Indonesia (66th), Myanmar (74th) and Cambodia (90th).
The EIU report indicated that countries that experienced significant improvements in political stability and democratic rights, such as Myanmar, showed great improvement in their food security ranking (up five places from the previous year).
Likewise, countries with high levels of corruption are likely to be less food-secure, the study added.
“I think the main problems with food security are related to politics and people,” said CP Group’s Dr Sarasin. “Yes, there is rising demand due to a greater number of middle-class consumers who seek more food and better products, but most of the core issues that result in people being left hungry are manmade. Every country needs to make sure that their populations are well-fed. Keeping domestic demand fulfilled has to be the goal for every government.”
All experts believe firmly in the value of collaboration among businesses, governments, universities and NGOs to share expertise and find solutions. The success of such efforts will determine how well the meets the all-important goal of food security in the future.