Food security deemed as concern in 2012

BEIJING, Dec 28 (ANN): The year 2011 began with fearful memories of the 2008 global food crisis. That was a time when surging food prices swept the world, giving rise to riots, trade bans, and panicked hoarding. Millions of people standing on the verge of poverty fell back into the pit. To many, the threat of hunger and malnutrition once again loomed on the horizon. In February, the global food price index, established by the United Nation's Food and Agricultural Organisation, increased to its highest point since it came into existence in 1990. Governments in some developing and less-developed countries were particularly frustrated, as high food prices foiled their decade-long work to reduce poverty, led to resentments and upset social stability. Analysts said discontent with surging bread prices helped provoke the widespread uprisings in the Middle East. During recent years, food price hikes have suggested that the low prices that were common since the 1970s have ceased to exist. That comes at a time when more mouths than ever have to be fed. The world's population is expected to increase from 7 billion this year to 9 billion in 2050, according to a projection by the International Monetary Fund. The basic economic task of feeding the world's hungry has once again become daunting. Various places' means of dealing with the approaching difficulties are likely to be different. In China, agricultural producers are fighting a battle on two fronts: they are simultaneously contending with a surge in demand stemming from the ever-increasing population and with a decrease in the amount of arable land, water and other natural resources that can be exploited. The country's looming troubles help explain why it has imported more agricultural goods in recent years. Not until 1996 did the country begin to import soybeans. By 2010, though, China was bringing in 54.8 million tonnes of the beans a year, making it the largest importer of that farm product in the world. The rising demand for soybeans was partly driven by a change in people's dietary habits; many had shifted away from having mostly grains on their plates to having more oil and meat, said Cheng Guoqiang, a senior fellow at the State Council's Development Research Center, a State think-tank. Soybeans are also used widely in China to produce cooking oil and in animal feed. According to Cheng, every person in China consumed 18.3 kg of edible oil on average in 2011, compared with 11 kg in 2001. Pushed upward by urbanization, the figure is expected to rise to 23 kg in the next 10 to 15 years. "The increase in soybean imports in the long term is inevitable," Cheng said. To meet the demand, production must increase. China has managed to harvest more grain every year for eight years in a row, starting in 2003. This year, the country had a record grain output, amounting to 571 million tonnes, 4.5 per cent more than the year before. Enough grain has already been produced to meet the government's output target for 2020, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. But the depletion of natural resources threatens to undermine harvests in the years to come. In 2012, the country will be under "great pressure" to secure yet another increase in grain yields, said Chen Xiaohua, vice-minister of agriculture.