CropLife Asia Calls on Region’s Stakeholders to Work Together to Address “Unacceptable” Food Crisis

United Nations’ Report on Food Security & Nutrition Highlights Troubling Trends in Asia

Singapore, 16 July 2019 – With the release of the 2019 State of Food Security & Nutrition in the World by the United Nations (UN), new data has come to light indicating hunger, undernourishment and obesity are at critical levels globally and throughout Asia in particular. In light of these troubling trends, CropLife Asia is now calling on the region’s food value chain stakeholders to work collectively to ensure a safe and nutritious food supply across the continent.

According to the UN research, some 820 million people did not have enough food to eat in 2018 – this is up from 811 million in 2017 and represents the third consecutive year of increase. Meanwhile, over 513 million of those hungry people (or over 62%) call Asia home. When it comes to undernourishment, the statistics are also discouraging. In 2018, the largest number of undernourished people around the world (more than 500 million) lived in Asia.

“The hunger and undernourishment trends taking place across Asia are simply unacceptable,” said Dr. Siang Hee Tan, CropLife Asia Executive Director. “In an age when Asia leads the way on so many fronts, this cold reality is a reminder we have much work yet to do.”

“The UN is to be commended for this research and raising awareness around this critical issue. It’s now time for the food value chain stakeholders in Asia to work together like never before to address this dilemma.

“While the technologies and innovations of plant science are part of the solution to feed our growing population, they’re only one part. The responsibility to ensure our region’s men, women and children have enough safe and nutritious food to eat is a shared one. The time is now for a renewed effort with the region’s governments, industry and civil society working together. The stakes are simply too high to not act now.”

Earlier statistics have also shown that obesity and overweight rates across ASEAN are particularly on the rise – especially among children. According to WHO data, the incidence of obese and overweight children across Southeast Asia has increased 150% since 2000.

The phenomena of rising undernourishment and obesity rates concurrently is commonly referred to as the ‘double burden’. In an effort to highlight this dilemma and discuss shared solutions, CropLife Asia partnered with the US-ASEAN Business Council and EU-ASEAN Business Council in 2019 to form the ASEAN Safe, Nutritious Food Alliance. This new group has conducted public-private sector dialogues in Bangkok and Hanoi thus far with key findings, shared solutions, and opportunities for greater partnership coming to light to better ensure safe, nutritious and abundant food supplies in Thailand and Vietnam respectively.

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  About CropLife Asia

CropLife Asia is a non-profit society and the regional organization of CropLife International, the voice of the global plant science industry.  We advocate a safe, secure food supply, and our vision is food security enabled by innovative agriculture.  CropLife Asia supports the work of 15 member associations across the continent and is led by six member companies at the forefront of crop protection, seeds and/or biotechnology research and development.  For more information, visit us at www.croplifeasia.org. 

 For more information please contact:

Duke Hipp                                                                                      

Director, Public Affairs                                                                 

CropLife Asia                                                                  

Tel: (65) 6221 1615                                                                                                    

duke.hipp@croplifeasia.org            

By: CropLife International

Kiran Timilsina, a researcher at the Agriculture and Forestry University in Chitwan, Nepal discusses GMOs and the need for “mind blowing ideas” for the future of crop protection and the future population.

By: CropLife International

How plant science can help Ugandans feed their families and increase climate – resilience.

Meet Dr. Michael Otim, a Crop Entomologist at the National Crops Institute. Dr. Otim works in Uganda, where droughts affected close to 2.4 million people between 2004 and 2013.^[1] He is part of the Water Efficient Maize for Africa project which is working to develop drought-resistant maize.

This research will be vital for families like Grace Maku’s. Like most Ugandans, Grace Maku and her family rely on the maize they grow on their farm to both feed themselves and be their primary source of income.

As Grace explains, climate change is putting her maize farming at risk:

“DROUGHT SIMPLY DRIES UP THE MAIZE. SOMETIMES WE HAVE TO GET WATER AND TRY TO IRRIGATE, BUT THAT’S NEVER EASY HERE.”

This is where drought-resistant crops could greatly improve her life. Some estimates suggest that drought-resistant maize could reduce up to 25% of crop loss. Innovations like this are essential to ensuring we meet the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal on Zero Hunger.

When maize is successfully harvested, it is often milled at places like Nakatundu Maize Millers in Kiwenda, Uganda. Over two million Ugandans count on maize as their main source of income, with agriculture accounting for almost 30% of the nation’s GDP.^[2]

Mitigating the impact of climate change and drought on crops like maize would mean increased demand for millers and increased economic activity – benefiting all Ugandans.

From Dr. Michael Otim’s lab, into Grace Maku’s field, all the way to Agnes Makilumda’s (pictured above) table, maize’s journey from the field to the plate is an important one

As global climate continues to change, and it becomes harder to harvest maize and other crops through drought, floods, and other natural disasters, biotech can help ensure our food’s journey is not interrupted.

By: CropLife International

Last month, CropLife International attended the 4^th session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) in Nairobi, Kenya. Policy makers, businesses and third-sector organizations from across the globe came together to discuss the environmental challenges our planet faces, and how sustainable innovation could be the key to solve these.

One area we’re passionate about is improving soil health. We joined the UN Food and Agricultural Organization, the International Fertilizer Association and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) at a side event to talk about the importance of healthy soils to ensure food safety, food security and human health.

CropLife International’s Director of International Regulatory Affairs for Crop Protection, Christoph Neumann, spoke about how new innovations in plant science can help tackle pests and diseases, while also ensuring soil health.

He also spoke about the importance of no-till agriculture – the practice of planting a new crop directly into the stubble of the previous crop, without ploughing. Intrinsic to the use of no-till is the use of herbicides to control weeds.

No-till helps to maintain soil structure, improve the ability of soil to retain water and every year it prevents the release of CO2 equivalent to removing every car from London for 5 years.

Christoph explained how investment in research on natural pesticides, known as biologicals, is another major area of innovation to help farmers deal with the pest threats to our harvests and crops.

We also joined the UN Environment Programme which urges more action on chemical management. We support UNEP’s new report, Global Chemical Outlook II (GCO II), which calls for efforts to ensure chemical management is in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. You can read more about how the industry actively supports GCO-II here.

Partnerships was another major them at UNEA. I sat on a panel event organised by UNEP where we discussed the value of public private partnerships to deliver sustainable development. I spoke about how we have worked with the German development organisation, GIZ, and the Vietnam government to help thousands of rice farmers towards a better future.

As Joyce Msuya, Assistant Secretary General and Active Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, articulated: “Standing still is falling behind”. We must all work together to come up with new solutions to fight today’s environmental challenges – through collaboration across businesses, governments, citizens, and NGOs.