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October 21, 2013 | Hunger set to take a huge toll in Asia in coming years: ADB | Even as water and land resources are dwindling, demand for food is multiplying rapidly in the whole of Asia. Ensuring food security to combat intensifying hunger and poverty
will be of prime concern for the region, according to ADB. It said despite rapid economic growth, food insecurity and inequality remain a reality for millions in the Asian and the Pacific region. High food prices also erode the purchasing power of households and undermine recent gains in poverty alleviation. Governments need to be cautioned to devise safety nets as quickly as possible to avert a catastrophe. |
Manila: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) predicted at its Annual Meeting
of Board of Governors that the problems of hunger and poverty would intensify
in the Asia and Pacific region in years up to 2050. Delegates to a seminar on
food security of the 45th annual meeting which ended Saturday in Manila were told
that Asia, which is home to most of the world's poor and undernourished populations,
is finding increasing difficulty in feeding its people as demand for food expands
rapidly just as water and land resources decline. "One of the key challenges for
developing Asia will be ensuring food security in the face of competing rural
demands, poor agricultural management, and climate change, while not compromising
on equitable economic growth," said Xianbin Yao, Director General of ADB's Pacific
Department. Despite rapid economic growth in Asia, food insecurity and inequality
remain a reality for millions in Asia and the Pacific region. The situation is
most dire in South Asia, where six out of 10 of Asia's hungry reside and eight
out of 10 underweight children live. Meeting the rising demand for food, animal
feed and biofuel will result in higher regional food prices. Despite the reduction
in poverty rates across Asia in the late 2000s, the pace of poverty reduction
was slowed down by food price hikes. A recent ADB study estimated that a 30 percent
increase in food prices can reduce GDP growth in some of the food importing countries
by as much as 0.6 percentage points; if the rise in food prices was also accompanied
by a 30 percent rise in the fuel prices, the projected decline in GDP growth rates
for these countries could be as high as 1.5 percentage points. High food prices
also erode the purchasing power of households and undermine recent gains in poverty
reduction: an ADB study estimated that a 10-percent increase in domestic food
prices in developing Asia, home to 3.3 billion people, could lead to a 1.9- percentage
point increase in poverty incidence, equivalent to pushing 64.4 million into poverty
(based on a 1.25 U.S. dollars-a- day poverty line). The ADB urged Asian and Pacific
governments to find ways to provide well-targeted safety nets to protect the poor
from hunger, and recommended governments set up a "hunger alleviation fund," representing
1 percent of a country's GDP, to be used when food prices grow beyond the reach
of the poor. The funds could be jointly managed with the private sector, with
companies encouraged to contribute using incentives such as tax breaks. Targeted
subsidies would deliver help to those who need it most. Other measures discussed
at the ADB seminar include reduction of food waste and storage losses which could
close the gap between supply and demand by 15 percent to 25 percent; the importance
of a second Green Revolution, which relies on biotechnology to increase food production;
Weather-based crop insurance; as well as futures contracts that would give farmers
a guaranteed minimum income for their crops.
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