Fear of Food Crisis Looms Large in Asia

After decades of neglect of their agricultural sector, and depending increasingly on the food cartel, thanks to the embracing of globalization, some Asian countries have begun to realize the bleak food situation that confronts them. India, one of the Asian nations that had secured food security in the early 1980s, now finds itself in a food-short situation. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, facing a steep rise in food prices in recent months, told the Chief Secretaries of Indian states at a meeting that "for some time past, there was, if I may say so, a false sense of security that availability of food has ceased to be a concern." He told the states to "forge appropriate strategies to bolster food production and tackle shortage of essential supplies."

In Nepal, where the agricultural sector was decimated by the Nepali monarchy and the decade-long civil war that ended in 2007, food shortages have become chronic. Once a rice-surplus nation till the late-1970s, Nepal now imports almost 70% of its rice. One senior Nepali bureaucrat told the media that "for 20-30 years, the donors and government of Nepal did not address the problems of food sufficiency and food security. The ten-year internal conflict did not help at all. It has exacerbated all this. So here we are facing the result of what has evolved over the last 20, especially ten years."

Another country reeling under the prospect of serious food shortages in the area, is Pakistan. Sen. Muhammad Ali Durrani warned on Feb. 4 of a massive food crisis across Pakistan, saying that steps are not being taken to ensure provision of water to the Bahawalpur division and other parts of South Punjab. Addressing a seminar at the Lahore Press Club on the restoration of defunct Bahawalpur province, Durrani said "the country's fertile lands were fast turning into deserts. Time has come for the rulers to adopt a prudent water strategy for the country, especially for southern Punjab.... No progress will be made on the agriculture front if the people living along the banks of the Satluj River are not provided water for irrigation," he said.