Asia has about 60% of the World’s population but only about a third of the world’s arable land. This region additionally has some of the most economically active countries with increasing urbanisation and a growing middle class. Asia is also home to some of the most affected countries by climate change. For these and other reasons, food security in Asia affects global food security through many inter-links. A new book, “Food Security Issues in Asia”, edited by Paul Teng and with multiple authors, explicates many of the key issues continuing to cause food insecurity in Asia as well as discourses on exciting developments. Through its twenty-seven chapters, the book, published by World Scientific Publishers Singapore was launched on 27 March 2024 in Singapore by Ambassador Ong Keng Yong, former ASEAN Secretary General.

Paul Teng

How countries respond will be influenced by their state of agricultural transformation, their economic development status, as well as agrifood policies which balance farmer versus consumer needs. The performance of agriculture in the two Asian giantrs, China and India, can be expected to further affect food supply-demand dynamics in Asia and beyond. India has become the world’s largest exporter of rice and is an important exporter of pulses. China, although a large agricultural producer, is prone to severe unexpected weather events which force it to buy from world markets to assure its domestic demands are met. The amounts which India can export and China needs to import, greatly affects those countries which rely on food imported through trade.

A “silver lining” is provided by the potential offered through technologies such as digital, biotechnology, precision fermentation, urban agritechnology, novel food technologies, waste valorisation and alternative proteins. Digital agriculture is being considered by many Asian governments to provide a pathway to improve productivity, especially increase yield and reduce costs of production. A noteworthy example is that of the ASEAN Ministers of Agriculture and Forestry, which have endorsed the ASEAN Guidelines on Promoting the Utilization of Digital Technologies for ASEAN Food and Agricultural Sector. With biotechnology, while large exporters like the U,S.A., Canada, Argentina, etc have adopted biotechnology-crops, Asian countries have been slow in the uptake of this technology, often due to scientifically dubious reasons. But a sea change may be in the offing, as China has announced in 2023 its intention to leading the way in growing more genetically modified crops.

Controlled Environment Agriculture is expanding in use due to weather uncertainties and is best exemplified by indoor vegetable farms in urban areas grown under artificial lighting, and Indoor fish farms using high- tech Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS). The 2000’s have also seen a resurgence in using a biotechnology called Precision Fermentation to grow animal and plant cells in bioreactors for food or food extracts. Investments in novel food such as cultivated meat and plant-based or microbial protein reached billions of US$ in the early 2020’s. Regulatory systems although slow in becoming operational have gained traction since Singapore first approved cultivated chicken in 2020.

Asia has seen the emergence of a vibrant agrifood startup ecosystem mainly fueled by private financing. But enabling innovations to take hold is requiring more to be done to proactively prepare consumers and regulators to deal with novel food products and novel technologies. Increasingly, many public institutions and companies have come to realize that it is not enough to generate new technologies without accompanying action on technology transfer systems like public extension, consumer acceptance and appropriate communication programmes such as those using risk communication.

With the anticipated further increase in food demand in Asia accompanied by increased environmental awareness, Asian countries will need to accelerate their move into harnessing technologies and implementing policies which support sustainable food systems. These food systems will need to conserve natural resources and concurrently provide livelihoods for millions of small farmers and affordable food to consumers. But to ensure food security, governments should have in place a “preparedness-paradigm” based on “futuring” scenarios of food supply and demand, each with its own response plan. A change towards an inter-sectoral “whole of food system” approach involving many relevant government agencies is needed. Too often, agriculture has been the sole responsible sector for food security and this has to change.

Paul Teng is a food security expert with the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies at Nanyang Technological University Singapore and concurrently Managing Director of NIE International Pte. Ltd. Singapore. He has worked in the Asia Pacific region on agri-food issues for over thirty years, with international organizations, academia and the private sector.

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Amidst a backdrop of rising food insecurity worldwide and a global food supply chain crisis, many countries are attempting to increase the level of food self-production. One improved input for farming which is receiving renewed attention is improved seed. The two most populous countries in the world, China and India, have recently made ground-breaking moves to improve their competitive position by developing new seeds which will improve their food production and increase resilience to climate change. So far, in 2022, new regulations on using biotechnology (genetic modification and gene editing) have been put in place by both countries to ultimately allow smallholder farmers to benefit from these new seeds.

Paul Teng

The importance of having reliable supplies of improved seeds for farmers has been particularly highlighted in the world’s most populous country, China, where seeds are high on the policy agenda.

In early April 2022, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for working toward food self-sufficiency and developing the country’s seed industry during a visit to a seed laboratory in Hainan Province, southern China. He noted that China’s food security could only be safeguarded when seed resources are firmly held in its own hands. President Xi’s comments come at a time when many countries aim to increase their self-production of food in anticipation of disruptions in supply chains such as those caused by the Ukraine-Russia crisis and the COVID pandemic.

Genevieve Donnellon-May

All the above background factors have led China and India to make important moves to tap a proven tool for developing new crop varieties, namely biotechnology.

In April 2022, China’s agriculture ministry announced plans for the first time after many years of deliberations to approve two new genetically modified corn varieties developed by the Syngenta Group. Earlier, In January 2022, China published new guidelines for the approval of gene-edited plants, paving the way for faster improvements to important food security crops. And this came amid a raft of measures to overhaul China’s seed industry, seen as a weak link in efforts to ensure it can feed the world’s biggest population. China’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Tang Renjian, had likened seeds to the “computer chips” of agriculture.

In an unrelated parallel development, India approved a key change in rules at the end of March 2022 to allow genome-edited plants or organisms without any “foreign” genes to be subjected to a different regulatory process than the one applied to genetically engineered products. As in China, this is anticipated to lead to faster development of new crop varieties that can meet the challenges of climate change and higher yields.

However, not all interested parties support the use of biotechnology to develop new seeds or patenting new crop varieties. Although the evidence is strong that multinational and domestic seed companies have played a major role in lifting crop production through their improved seeds, this has also led to concerns about the control that the private sector may have over this important input for food production. And related to this issue of control of seeds is the patenting of new seeds.

There has been a rise in ‘seed activism‘ and interest in seed sovereignty as part of the pushback against the modern agricultural system that is supported by patented seeds such as hybrids. This pushback has been helmed by groups which exploit the fear (often speculative) that by having control over seeds, a handful of multinational companies, rather than farmers or countries, have control over the global food supply. This omits the reality that farmers have the right to choose whatever seeds to plant and even keep their own seeds if desired. These groups have also failed to recognize that investments to innovate and produce new seeds would not have been possible without adequate protection of seeds as intellectual property. Countries like China and India realise the importance of promoting innovations in the seed industry.

China, in particular, has announced that it aims to revitalize the seed sector, encourage germplasm collection, and strengthen intellectual property protection in the sector. In China, views on the importance of seeds in food security are reflected in various domestic policies such as in 2022’s “No 1 Central Policy Document”, the country’s agricultural blueprint. A top policy priority is the development of the seed industry in China.

The issues of seed sovereignty based on farmer-saved seed, when balanced against the track record of improved seeds from companies which give high yields, are complex. But in the final analysis, farmers will choose the seeds that give them the most assured yields under risky conditions, even if they have to pay for such seeds. This has been the case with almost all the developed and developing countries with food surpluses for export, such as the U.S.A., Canada, Brazil and Argentina. And consumers, as well as food importers are those who benefit by there being more food at affordable prices.

The first “Green Revolution” in Asia which took off in the 1970s was based on improved seeds of wheat and rice, bred using technologies which were novel at that time. However, towards the latter part of the last millennium, the need for more novel technologies to improve crops became obvious as yield gains were stagnating in many crops. The challenges facing all smallholder farmers arising from changes in climate, pests and natural resource depletion are becoming more intense and frequent. And unless new seeds are developed and made available to farmers in shorter timeframes, it is the consuming public that will suffer the consequences of reduced, unreliable food supply and higher prices.

The conundrum is how to balance local ownership of seed sources which are commonly unimproved and low-yielding with improved high-yielding seeds developed by seed companies (either domestic or multinational) using modern science. Ultimately, smallholder farmers worldwide deserve new “seeds of hope”.

Paul Teng is Adjunct Senior Fellow, Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies at Nanyang Technological University Singapore. He has worked in the Asia Pacific region on agri-food issues for over thirty years, with international organizations, academia and the private sector.

Genevieve Donnellon-May is a master’s student in Water Science, Policy and Management at the University of Oxford. Genevieve’s research interests include China, Africa, transboundary governance, and the food-energy-water nexus.

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After almost two decades, Golden Rice was approved last week by the Philippines authorities for use as food. This together with the approval of the bioengineered Bt eggplant represents a landmark victory of science over misinformation; it will provide consumers with improved nutrition (Golden Rice) and safer food (Bt eggplant).

Paul Teng

This approval of Golden Rice and the lesser-known Bt eggplant are therefore milestones in the use of biotechnology to meet food security needs through more (nutritious) food with less pesticides. In the 29 countries which currently grow GMO-biotechnology crops in 2019, over 17 million farmers growing about 91 million hectares have been shown to benefit financially and health-wise. So has the environment from the reduced insecticide use. At the same time, worldwide, beyond the 29 growing countries, another 43 countries import GMO-biotechnology crops for food, feed and processing; this includes Singapore.

Golden Rice: Addressing Vitamin A Deficiency

The Philippines has a high incidence of Vitamin A Deficiency (VAD) which can lead to blindness and death, particularly among children. Rice is the staple in the Philippines, with many households consuming it two to three times a day.

Almost 20 years ago, an international group tested the development of a rice variety which could provide enhanced levels of Vitamin A and therefore relief for the many malnourished children in developing countries.

This enhanced Beta-carotene rice subsequently came to be called “Golden Rice” because of the yellow hue in the grains. The development and testing of this rice has gone through intensive scrutiny by scientific and regulatory bodies in several countries. Indeed this rice has been tested for safety and environmental concerns more than any other modern rice variety.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that over half a million children worldwide are affected by VAD, with disastrous impact. The International Rice Institute (IRRI) estimated that 17% of children under five in the Philippines suffer from VAD, so the Golden Rice has the potential to change the fight against this disease.

Bt Eggplant: Engineered To Reduce Insecticide Use

Eggplant (a.k.a. Aubergine) is one of the most widely consumed fruit vegetables in South and Southeast Asia. However, eggplant is highly susceptible to the fruit borer which severely damages the fruit that is sold through its feeding on the fleshy part of the fruit that is used by humans.

To produce a crop that is cosmetically acceptable to consumers and profitable for farmers, almost all eggplant farmers have resorted to using insecticides. In Bangladesh, eggplant farmers have been known to spray as many as 70 times in a single season to ensure that their crop is saleable! Oftentimes the pest has also become immune to the cocktail of insecticides used.

The alternative technology that was proposed in the early 2000’s was to use biotechnology to give resistance to the fruit borer so that insecticide use could be reduced, farmers could produce a crop and consumers could buy a safer vegetable. Scientists engineered eggplant with a gene from a common soil bacterium called Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) and were able to show greatly increased resistance to the pest. This same bacterium in its raw form is used by organic farmers for pest control.

The same Bt technology has also been successfully used in crops like maize, soybean and cotton. Indeed Bangladesh became the first country to grow this Bt eggplant in 2014 and since then some 34,000 small farmers have grown over 2,000 hectares in 2019; farmers have been less exposed to dangerous insecticides, and consumers have accepted this safer product.

Other countries have been slow to adopt this technology because of the fear of controversy surrounding GMO-biotechnology crops and opposition by “green groups”. And it is to the credit of Filipino scientists and regulators that they have finally accepted the scientific evidence and shown courage to approve this new eggplant variety, and give consumers a safer vegetable.

Future Biotechnologies

The importance of the approval by the Philippines of Golden Rice and Bt Eggplant cannot be understated. The Philippines was the first Asian country in 2000 to approve a biotech crop, the Bt maize for planting by farmers. And since then the economic benefits to farmers, especially smallholder farmers have exceeded expectations, as studied by credible economists. It has drastically reduced the foreign exchange bill of importing maize to fuel the growing demand for animal feed. The Philippines was even able to export maize in one year.

The doomsayers who predicted environmental disaster from introducing a biotech crop like Bt maize into the environment have been proven wrong as the fears of upsetting biodiversity have not been evidenced.

Neither has any of the concerns about animal and human safety been seen. Indeed the 20 years of biotech maize use around the world has only seen a yearly increase in the uptake by farmers, to the benefit of consumers through a reliable supply of an important animal feed (and human food in some countries).

Moving Forward

The latest report on food insecurity by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in 2021 (http://www.fao.org/3/cb4474en/online/cb4474en.html) shows that the Asian continent is still rife with hunger and malnutrition. Many tools are needed to address the food needs in Asia, and the approvals by the Philippines last week augur well for the application of various biotechnologies to meet the challenges of producing more of both traditional food as well as novel food.

Moving forward, the new generation of biotechnology applications to meet the demands of humanity for food, feed and fibre are exemplified by Plant Breeding Innovations such as gene editing. Their impact is just being felt in terms of crops with improved yield, tolerance to pests, diseases and climate change, and improved nutrition and extended shelf life.

Likewise, biotechnology processes have been used in the fast-growing alternative protein industry to produce food like plant-based protein and cellular meat. However, whether these benefits will be realised will depend much on consumer acceptance and government approvals.

At a time when food security worldwide is being threatened by disruptive forces like climate change and pandemics, technology has an important role to play in innovating solutions. Countries like Singapore are capitalising on some of these new technologies, not just to produce more food but also to address the environmental impact of food production. But ultimately, much will depend on a science-literate populace accepting food produced with new technologies.

Paul Teng is Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre), S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Singapore. He is also Honorary Chair of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agribiotechnology applications (ISAAA), a non-profit hosted by Cornell University.

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By Paul Teng
Jun 24 2021 (IPS)

In 2020, Southeast Asian countries were already facing varied challenges that affected the region’s food supplies and prices. The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic later in the year exacerbated the region’s food insecurity and poverty. Southeast Asian countries need to take a hard look at food security, even as the double challenges — climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic — continue to fester.

Paul Teng

One of the drivers for the price increases is vegetable oil, notably palm oil, whose prices have been increasing since the fourth quarter of 2020. But global cereal prices also shown a significant rise in the past months. Dry weather and production disruptions due to Covid-19 coupled with high global demand led to the depletion of palm oil inventories, resulting in a classical demand surge-supply slump situation. This has inevitably driven up up prices. Biodiesel demand also increased the demand for soybean oil.

Southeast Asian countries were only just recovering in 2020 from the effects of the African swine fever which killed millions of hogs, and from large areas of crops devastated by the Fall Army Worm (which started in the Americas and proceeded to afflict sub-Saharan Africa, the Indian sub-continent, China and Southeast Asia). In the same period, countries across Southeast Asia implemented measures to curb the Covid-19 pandemic. Movement controls disrupted food supply chains, increased losses of agricultural produce on farms, and increased food waste. The net result is that food insecurity and poverty have increased in many Southeast Asian countries in the past year.

Source: UN Food and Agriculture Organization

Beyond the impact of the pandemic, climate-related phenomena have affected agriculture in food producing economies of Southeast Asia and in the countries which conduct food trade with the region. The ongoing drought in parts of western and mid-western United States, important agricultural areas, have impacted harvestable crop areas and potentially will lower crop yields. As the US is an important exporter of wheat, soybeans and maize to Southeast Asia, there is real danger that price inflation of basic food commodities will increase further.

According to the FAO, 10 per cent of Southeast Asia‘s population of 650 million suffers from food insecurity. So any increase in food prices will drive more people to hunger and reduced food intake. But the situation in Southeast Asia cannot be viewed in isolation from countries that are large food importers. Demand in China, one of the world’s biggest food importers, has been strong as the country has recovered from the pandemic earlier and faster than the rest of the world. Different parts of China have suffered from drought in the south and floods in the east. Much agricultural production occurs in the vicinity of the rivers and their flood plains, and even a small decline in production could inevitably lead to a large absolute increase in food demand due to China’s large population size. In past years, when China had gone shopping for food in the international markets, Southeast Asian countries have had to compete for the limited amounts available, especially in staples like rice.

Southeast Asia’s growing middle class has concurrently increased demands for wheat products and animal protein, both of which cannot be met by the production of animal feed crops like soybean and maize in the region or Asia as a whole. The FAO, in its analyses, has attributed part of the food price increases to supply-side issues such as harvest delays and reduced crop yields in exporting countries like Brazil.

It would appear that the Covid-19 pandemic is far from over in Southeast Asia, with the resurgences of 2nd and 3rd waves of infection. Natural calamities linked to climate change are further anticipated to negatively affect food production in many of the food exporting countries. For the region, the typhoon (cyclone) season of 2021 is only just beginning. This will put a strain on the ability of the region to grow enough food. Furthermore, reductions and disruptions in food supply chains leading to price spikes appear likely to continue in 2021 and beyond. Asian countries are also likely to implement tighter biosecurity measures such as improved animal health requirements and increased surveillance as part of strategies to prevent the spread of zoonotic diseases. To avoid the chaos created during the 2007-2008 food crisis, openness in reporting outbreaks and transparency in data sharing will be key to avoid panic buying.

In the near future, the effects of climate change are likely to increase rather than decrease, and together with the disruptions caused by the pandemic, will potentially create a ‘perfect storm’ for food supplies and prices. So ‘preparedness’ as a policy will be important for ASEAN to build resilience in its food security.

This article was first published by ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute as a commentary in Fulcrum.” With a link back to the original article — https://fulcrum.sg/southeast-asia-and-food-price-inflation-double-whammy/

Professor Paul Teng is an Associate Senior Fellow in the Climate Change in Southeast Asia Programme of ISEAS-Yusof Ishak institute. He is also Dean and Managing Director of NIE International, Nanyang Technological University Singapore.

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