A recent report on food security in Asia by the Asian Development Bank’s Independent Evaluation Department cites stagnating productivity and increasingly extreme weather as two main threats to food security and causes of sustained high food prices in the region. The report goes on to state that food security is particularly threatened by the long diminishing productivity in wheat and rice because of falling investments in agriculture, and the effects of climate change; with the bigger of the threats over the next 10 to 20 years being climate change. Over the last century price spikes have occurred approximately every 30 years however in recent year the links between food, energy and financial markets are much tighter causing volatility. For all major food crops there is potential, using existing technologies, to close the production gaps present in Asia. Currently the majority of Asian producers are not able to attain more than 80% of potential yields because of pests, drought or economic constraints. Sustained investment in agriculture, incentives for increased productivity, and stable trade policies are all needed in the region to ensure future food security.
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