averting hunger and food insecurity in asia

33

Upload: avrildgmadrid

Post on 18-Aug-2015

218 views

Category:

Documents


1 download

DESCRIPTION

Author: Arsenio M. Balisacan

TRANSCRIPT

Averting Hunger and Food Insecurity in AsiaArsenio M. BalisacanSEARCAAgriculture & DevelopmentDiscussion Paper SeriesNo. 2004-1SOUTHEAST ASIAN REGIONAL CENTER FOR GRADUATE STUDY AND RESEARCH IN AGRICULTUREScience and education for agriculture and developmentArsenio M. BalisacanSEARCACollege, Los Baos, Laguna, PhilippinesTel/Fax: (63) 49-536-2290 E-mail: [email protected] point of view taken in this paper is entirely that of the author and does not refect in any way, SEARCAs position.The SEARCA Agriculture and Development Discussion Paper Series aims to disseminate informationoncurrenttrendsorresearches toinspirediscussionbetweentheauthor andotherstakeholdersinthesamefeldof interest.SEARCAencouragesreadersto directly contact the author through the address provided or join the discussion board for this paper at http://bit.ly/searca-dps-2004-1INTRODUCTION The recent years have seen a resurgence of economic growth in Asia. The regions growth of roughly 5 percent achieved in 2003 came close to the level achieved prior to the East Asian fnancial crisis in the late 1990s. Remarkably, too, despite this crisis that led most countries in East Asia to either sharp economic slowdown or contraction, the past decadehadwitnessedsignifcantpovertyreduction.Between1990and 2000, the number of people living on less than a dollar a day fell by about 243 million. Poverty incidence in East Asia declined from 29.46 percent to 15.6 percent, while that in South Asia fell from 41.3 percent to 31.1 percent. At these rates, the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving by 2015 the proportion of people whose income falls below one dollar a day looks attainable for Asia. Indeed, China, Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia have already reached the goal, while the rest, except Sri Lanka, are on target (Table 1). The prevalence of undernourishment between the late 1980s and late 1990s also declined from 29 to 13 percent in East and Southeast Asia, and from 38 to 23 percent in South Asia (Table 2). Even so, the region still accounts for about 60 percent of the worlds 1.1 billion poor. The proportion of underweight children in the region fell by only 4 percentage points (from 35 to 31 percent) between the early and late 1990s (ESCAP [United Nations Economic and Social Commission forAsiaandthePacifc]2003).InCambodia,Bangladesh,India,and Nepal, almost half of the children under fve years are still moderately and severely malnourished. The proportion of undernourished people in the region remains high at 16 percent, with very little progress in the 1990s for Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and the Philippines. Without renewed push and initiatives, the region will likely miss the MDG of halving the incidence of hunger by 2015. The global communitys efforts in attacking poverty must focus on agricultural and rural development. Of the worlds poor, 75 percent work and live in rural areas and 60 percent will continue to do so in 2025. In Asia, nearly two-thirds of the poor live in rural areas; the large majority Keynote paper presented at the Regional Workshop on Policy Issues and Options to Avert Hunger and Food Insecurity in Asia in Cha-am, Thailand on 2526 March 2004.Table 1. Proportion of population with income below USD 1/day (PPP)Early 1990s 2001MDG Target 2015Trend 2015East Asia 29.6 15.6 14.8 7.0Cambodia 48.3 35.5 24.2 21.6China31.3 18.5 15.7 9.5Indonesia20.6 7.2 10.3 2.0Lao PDR53.0 26.3 26.5 11.0Malaysia0.5