Food Security in Asia:

Innovative Solutions to a Growing Crisis

Outline

• Context
• Food Security and Related Issues
• CABI in Action - Global Plant Health Resource
• Concluding Remarks
Context

● 1.2 billion poor worldwide, 852m go

hungry
● 279m poor in E and SEA (>200m in
China alone)
● By 2050, double the amount of food
needed
● Asia comprises some of richest
countries (Brunei, Singapore) and
poorest (Lao PDR, Myanmar) in the
world
● Approx 70% of population still rely on
agriculture
The ADB’s
Response ● More than 50% of the world's growing
Strategies demand for food comes from Asia
● Climate change threatens food
security of 1.6 billion South Asians
● In its Strategy 2020, ADB commits its
support to agriculture (agricultural
productivity) and rural development
● ADB approved the Operational Plan
for Sustainable Food Security in Asia
& the Pacific in 2009
● The Plan envisages ADB’s multisector
engagement for sustainable food
security at $2 billion annually for
2010–2012
Outline

• Context
• Food Security and Related Issues
• CABI in Action - Global Plant Health Resource
• Concluding Remarks
Defining Food Security
“Food security exists when all
people at all times have access to
sufficient, safe and nutritious food
to meet their dietary needs and
food preferences for an active and
healthy life”
FAO

KNOWLEDGE FOR LIFE

Progress
Towards
Achievement ● Commitment to eight Millennium
of MDGs Development Goals (MDGs) to be
met by 2015
● Good progress made in human
health
● Less progress ‘eradicating
extreme poverty and hunger by
50%’
● Hunger is rising in Sub-Saharan
Africa and South Asia
● Steep increases in food prices in
2007/08 mostly impacted the poor
and those in absolute poverty
Food Security
Under Threat ● Increasing population
● Water scarcity – globally, water usage
will double by 2050, driven mainly by
irrigation and demands of agriculture,
and some countries have already run
out of water to produce their own food
● Competition for land
● Food price increases
● Pests and diseases (including invasive
species) – 20-40% of the world’s
potential crop production lost annually due
to effects of weeds, pests & diseases
● Climate change
food price rises

On average, world prices for staple foods increased:

rice 50%; wheat 49%; maize 43%
Food Price Crisis Explanations
● Disruption of supply – severe weather events
● Rising oil prices – impacts fertilizer and transport costs
● Changes in demand – changes in consumption patterns
● Another change in demand – production of biofuels
● Export bans – reduced global supply
● Speculation – growth in global futures
How can food security be improved in the
short and long term?
● Social “safety nets” and strategic grain reserves
● Strengthen in-country institutions and infrastructure
● Removal of non-tariff barriers
● A “knowledge intensive” approach
● Increase productivity (yield / hectare)

We need to invest in agriculture and innovative solutions

What contributes to low productivity?
● Lack of incentives e.g. credit access, favourable trade
polices, investment in infrastructure
● Environmental limitations e.g. severe weather events, low
soil fertility, lack of access to sufficient water, climatic
change
● Lack of access to high yielding crops and seeds
● Crop pests and diseases
If we can lose less of what we produce
then we can improve productivity
The BIG Three
Wheat
19% of the world's wheat, which provides food for
1 billion people in Asia and Africa, is in imminent
danger from Ug99 (wheat rust).
The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center

$10 billion worth of wheat would be destroyed if the

Ug99 suddenly made its way to US fields.
Los Angeles Times, June 2009

In the absence of effective adaptation, India would

lose 3.9 million tonne of wheat yield due to climate
change by 2020.
PK Aggarwal and DN Swaroopa Rani , Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI)
Rice
Rice is a staple for about half the world's population,
among whom are many of the poorest.

Rice blast disease results in losses of 10%-30% of

the crop every year

Barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV) infects most of the

staple cereals - wheat, barley, oats, rye, rice, and
maize. Harvests are reduced between 15%-38%
R. Strange, P Scott , Annual Review of Phytopathology, 2005
Maize
Recent projections indicate that by 2020, global
demand for maize will exceed that of wheat and rice
IMWI, CIMMYT, IFPRI

The increase in maize demand will be acute in Asia

– an 87% rise to 303m tonnes in 2020
IFPRI 2000

Maize pests (e.g. Asian corn borer, armyworm, white

grub) and diseases (e.g. leaf blight, ear and stalk rot)
cause extremely high on-farm and storage yield
losses of sometimes up to 80% in Asia
CABI 2009
The Problem
Plant health is often ignored
There is a need for
● action to connect crop losses
with plant health
● public awareness of plant health
● understanding the impact of crop
pests and diseases on lives and
livelihoods
Outline

• Context
• Food Security and Related Issues
• CABI in Action
• Concluding Remarks
 CABI’s Role/Expertise in Improving
Food Security Make more food
available

Produce more Buy more

Use reserves
Grow More Lose Less Earn more
Or savings

Competition from
New land Produce more
weeds

Move to higher
New varieties Pests and diseases
value crops

Transit and Higher value

Better agronomy
storage losses markets

CABI’s expertise
Some of Our Activities
1. Agricultural productivity
2. Trade and market development
3. Capacity building
4. Adaptation to climate change
Agricultural Productivity
● Project funded by AKDN to improve lives of Afghanistan’s
rural communities by improving agriculture in two regions
of Afghanistan – Badakshan and Takhar thus:
 Introducing new varieties of crops that are less
susceptible to pests and diseases
 Teaching safe and sustainable crop protection
techniques
 Focusing on fruit orchards and vegetable gardens
due to their significant export and dietary value
Agricultural Productivity
● Project funded by SDC to improve maize and cabbage
production in DPR Korea thereby promoting food security:
 employing Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
approaches to help farmers protect crops from pests
 undertook a 2 year study to test the efficiency of the
Trichogramma in controlling the Asian corn borer
 20–40% increase in yield achieved in maize fields
where wasps were released
 40% increase in cabbage yield
Trade Development and Markets
● Project funded by IDRC to establish an ASEAN region-wide
network providing plant health and safety services
● Key project features:
 innovative ASEAN Knowledge and Diagnostic Network
 clearinghouse mechanism for regional sharing of
diagnostic expertise
 framework for plant health knowledge exchange
 operationalization of AKDN and evaluation of its role
through specific market access case studies
Capacity Building
● Project funded by the Punjab Agricultural Research Board
to help Pakistan’s wheat farmers lose less
 Training farmers on Best Agricultural Practices
including use of biological control agents to control
the wheat aphid in Pakistan
 Goal is to protect wheat yields from aphid attack by
using little or no pesticides, thereby protect the
environment and consumers, and save money
Adaptation to climate change
● Project funded by UK DEFRA and Chinese MoA to
address vulnerabilities and build capacity for adaptation
of agriculture to climate change
● Key project features:
 Building capacity of Chinese researchers and
farming communities to adapt to climate change
 Fostering joint research and knowledge exchange
between Chinese and UK researchers
 Communicating the findings and lessons to
stakeholders (workshops, bilingual website, and
posters to raise awareness amongst farmers)
Our Comparative Advantage

Knowledge-Intensive Plant Health Initiatives

● Knowledge intensive “Green Revolution”

● Unique plant health expertise
● Any crop, any problem
● IPM and Biocontrol
● Building capacity – systems and
individuals
● Innovative solutions to complex
problems
PlantWise: A Plant Health Resource for All
An innovative solution that seeks to integrate:
1. a global knowledge bank
2. plant clinics for field advisory services / pest
early warning

Plant Clinics Plant Health Database

Knowledge Bank

Plant clinics Plant Health Database

● easy access to global sources of information

● validated field data from clinics and global data
integrated for dynamic pest distribution maps
● paid for services to support open access material
Plant Clinics:
an Innovative ● Plant doctors deliver demand-led
Solution advisory services at mobile clinics
based in markets or other areas
farmers frequent
● Plant health systems developed by
linking plant doctors in networks
with other stakeholders (technical
experts, agrodealers, diagnostic
labs, NPPOs)
● Capture of clinic records: leads to
early detection of emerging pests
and diseases for early response
● Builds capacity of system to
respond on ongoing basis
Together we can help
• Improve the lives of poor farmers; help Meet
reduce poverty and hunger MDG1
• Lose less food to pests and diseases Improve
food
• Slow down and reduce the spread of
security
pests and diseases

• Create plant health networks Build better

national
• Improve extension services capacity

• Make world class plant health information

available to all
Outline

• Context
• Food Security and Related Issues
• CABI in Action - Global Plant Health Resource
• Concluding Remarks
Conclusions
● Food prices have impacted poverty and food security
● Price rises caused by the oil price, changed demand,
supply and speculation
● The long-term decline in spending on Agriculture
needs to be reversed
● Reducing yield losses and improving plant health in
order to increase productivity
● CABI has numerous plant health initiatives in action
● Knowledge-intensive approaches require partnership
with in-country systems
● Using this approach, CABI and its partners can
deliver improved plant health for the 21st century

Between us we can make a difference

 THANK YOU
FOR YOUR ATTENTION
lose less, feed more