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Dealing with the global food crisis
By Du Yu §ù¦t
Following poor wheat harvests in Russia, Eastern Europe and other places in
recent years, unusual flooding in major grain exporters Australia and Brazil, as
well as price manipulation by global speculators, international food prices have
kept on rising. This is a very worrying trend. Figures show that since last
year¡¦s harvest seasons, global prices for maize, soybeans and wheat have risen
by 94, 51 and 80 percent respectively. The prices for these three key grains
have already risen close to or above their highest point in the previous 30
months. Although the impact so far has varied from region to region, a repeat of
the global food price crisis may well be on the cards.
UN Food and Agriculture Organization officials have warned that prices for rice,
wheat, sugar, meat and other food will remain high throughout this year,
possibly leading to a repeat of the 2007-2008 food price crisis. In spite of
this, some Taiwanese economists and government officials still think that ¡§one
doesn¡¦t have to own a cow to drink milk¡¨; that is, as long as one has money one
can buy food from abroad when the need arises. They believe there is no need to
set aside a sizable tract of land for farming and would prefer seeing the land
put to more effective uses such as industry and commerce.
It should be remembered, however, that when the most recent food crisis hit, not
only did global prices soar, but many major food-exporting countries restricted
their exports. When that happens, it doesn¡¦t matter how high your GDP is,
because you can¡¦t eat money. Besides, local food production is good for the
environment and the economy. Japanese research shows that each family can cut
its energy expenditure by 20 percent by consuming locally produced food.
There is plenty of evidence to show that worldwide food shortages and unstable
supply are becoming more and more serious, with food prices rising by double
digits in many countries. Advanced countries are taking active precautions to
deal with possible food crises. The principal measures they are taking include:
strengthening systems for ensuring food security; maintaining reasonable stocks;
diversifying food reserves; increasing development of overseas plantations;
setting up a food equivalent of OPEC to stabilize food sources and prices
through collective action, with plans to set up regional mutual assistance
networks; setting up global food industry chains to prevent monopolization of
food markets; increasing grain output by planting genetically modified crops;
and enhancing monitoring and control of international food futures markets to
reduce artificial manipulation.
The aim is to maximize food supplies to meet demand and maintain national
stability. China, ASEAN and Japan are also building a mechanism for emergency
rice reserves in East Asia.
Current food production methods, especially animal husbandry, are among the main
causes of global warming, loss of species diversity, water shortages and other
problems.
In light of this, nutritionists suggest that while increasing crop production,
consumers should be encouraged to eat more vegetarian food and less meat. On the
one hand, this would have healthy benefits, such as reducing obesity, and
improve the quality of life, while on the other it would help ease the climate
change crisis. Another possible alternative is fish, a healthy source of food
that is low in fat and calories and contains plenty of healthy omega-3 fatty
acids.
Taiwan was fortunate enough to get through the last global food crisis more or
less unscathed, mainly because it had relatively abundant food reserves,
international food prices stabilized quite quickly and local consumption of rice
has fallen in recent years. On average, each person in Taiwan consumes 48kg of
rice per year, lower than Japan¡¦s 58kg. However, these factors do not guarantee
that Taiwan can cope with future food crises. Taiwan is now only 32 percent
self-sufficient in food ¡X a low figure. This does not bode well for national
food security in the long term.
It is ironic that, just as the rest of the world is taking precautions to deal
with future food shortages, Taiwan has become mired in protests and clashes over
the destruction of farmland and farmers¡¦ livelihoods. These events reveal a lack
of policy integration and foresight on the part of the government. Besides,
international raw material prices have been rising sharply, a trend that is
obviously beyond the control of domestic policy.
Domestic prices have been rising after the Lunar New Year holiday and are
beginning to have an impact on the grassroots economy. This should be a reminder
to the government that it should strictly legislate the preservation of fertile
land and draw up plans to breathe life into land that is currently lying idle in
order to improve Taiwan¡¦s food self-sufficiency. Taiwan is surrounded by the
sea, whose plentiful marine product resources have been called the granary of
the future and should be put to good use. Officials in charge of farming policy
need to go beyond their narrow conventional ways of thinking about food.
With a global food crisis looming, various government agricultural agencies
reluctantly called a national conference and proposed various measures in
response, including calling on people to eat more rice. However, the real
problem is how to put these policies into action, which these agricultural
agencies alone cannot effectively enforce.
A wider cooperation between different government agencies, including those in
charge of economic construction, environmental protection, water resources and
health, should be encouraged and their efforts integrated to tackle these
problems. Only then can food security be assured.
Du Yu is a member of the Chen-Li Task
Force for Agricultural Reform.
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