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Never an Empty Bowl: Sustaining Food Security in Asia

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Never an Empty Bowl: Sustaining Food Security in Asia trailer (1 min., 35 sec.)
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Never an Empty Bowl: Sustaining Food Security in Asia trailer (1 min., 35 sec.)

For the first time in history, the number of people suffering from chronic hunger reached one billion globally in 2009, with Asia accounting for approximately two-thirds of the world's hungry.

The future looks even more daunting. Population growth, increasing demand from changing diets, dwindling land and water resources for agriculture, higher energy costs, and the huge uncertainties regarding the effects of climate change present scientists and policy makers with additional challenges.

A new Task Force report jointly released on September 27,2010 by the Asia Society and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) brings together a pragmatic approach to public policy and the best science, with substantial input from key players in the field, to advance a comprehensive plan of action to address food insecurity and poverty in the region.

The report, Never an Empty Bowl: Sustaining Food Security in Asia, outlines a strategy focused on three key areas:

(1) Raising and sustaining the productivity of rice farmers, including improving resilience of crops to climate change.

(2) Increasing investments by countries and donor organizations in rural development, with the agricultural sector as the priority.

(3) Bringing food safety net programs up to scale at the national level with investments that target better health, nutrition and formal education programs.

To help bring about sustainable food security throughout Asia, the report calls for the creation of innovative public-private partnership arrangements, as well as partnerships involving different levels of government, civil society organizations, and donor organizations, in these three areas. Additionally, the Task Force recommends establishing a center for the coordination of food security activities in Asia to document the systemic nature of long-run food security challenges in Asia and identify appropriate systemic approaches to them.

"Poverty remains the single biggest factor contributing to food insecurity in Asia," says Task Force co-Chair M.S. Swaminathan, a leading Indian agricultural scientist considered the "Father of the Green Revolution in India" for his role in introducing and developing high-yielding varieties of wheat in India that saved millions from starvation in the 1960s and 1970s. "Two-thirds of the world's 1.4 billion poor people surviving on less than $1.25 per day live in Asia. They spend half of their income on purchasing food, mainly rice. For the extreme poor having access to adequate food is often too costly. A ‘pro-poor growth and pro-women strategy' is the only sustainable route out of hunger and poverty. Raising agricultural productivity is central to achieving overall economic development that reaches the poor."

Related Links and Events:

February 22, 2011: Op-ed by C. Peter Timmer in The Wall Street Journal Asia

December 3, 2010: Asia Society Mumbai Center Launch Event

November 29,2010: "Bringing the Food Security Message to Hong Kong" (Asia Society Hong Kong) 

October 3, 2010: Op-ed by M.S. Swaminathan, James Wolfensohn and Suzanne DiMaggio in The Huffington Post

September 27, 2010: "Partnering for Food Security" (New York Launch Event)

September 27, 2010: Task Force report covered in Bloomberg News

September 26, 2010: Task Force report covered by the Wall Street Journal

Task Force co-Chairs
Dan Glickman, Former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture
M.S. Swaminathan, Chairman of the M.S. Swaminathan Foundation; recipient of the first World Food Prize

Project Director
Suzanne DiMaggio, Director of Policy Studies, Asia Society

Principal Advisor
C. Peter Timmer, Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Development Studies, Emeritus, Harvard University

Project Manager
Robert W. Hsu, Senior Program Officer, Policy Studies, Asia Society 

Task Force Members:
Vishakha Desai, President, Asia Society
Henrietta Fore, Former Administrator, US Agency for International Development
Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Secretary, UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
Jikun Huang, Director, Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy and Chinese Academy of Sciences
N.R. Narayana Murthy, Chairman of the Board and Co-Founder, Infosys
Ong Keng Yong, Director, Institute of Policy Studies, National University of Singapore
Judith Rodin, President, Rockefeller Foundation
Ursula Schaefer-Preuss, Vice President, Asian Development Bank
Josette Sheeran, Executive Director, World Food Programmme
Vichai Sriprasert, President, Riceland International (Thailand)
James D. Wolfensohn, Former President of World Bank
Robert Zeigler, Director-General, International Rice Research Institute

Animation by Curt Saeui.

naty frondoza benedicto | 10:04:10 04:44am
I am a mother from the Philippines and i would like to know how simple people like me would be able to persuade people that life in the farm is much much better than in the cities where they raise crops only on farmville. I am planning to go home to the province and if allowed by our clan to farm our under utilized land since they were planning to sell it for many years but failed to so no improvements were done as well. I believe that it is through natural farming that we can recover the riches of nature for us human beings to live in harmony and abundance once again.
V. Balasubramanian | 10:02:10 11:34pm
This Asia Society-IRRI Task Force Report is timely. The main problems is that Asian Governments don't care about agriculture and pay only lip service to rural development and upliftment of the poor. Most government programs are aimed at the urban people, leaving the villages to rot and promoting over-crowding and expansion of slums in cities--a loose-loose situation. Most educated youngsters prefer IT jobs over agricultural employment and I wish they can produce virtual food from their computers. All tall talks cannot solve the food problems unless: (a) a real investment is made in rural infrastructure development, health, education and farming; (b) make farming an attractive enterprise to youngsters through some kind of land consolidation into viable units, mechanization, and professional management of integrated production, processing and marketing; (c) develop an innovative, win-win model for public-private partnership in farming; and (d) real action on the ground rather than fancy meetings, press releases, voluminous reports, etc. Thank you.
maven cajucom | 09:22:10 12:02am
Re. Never an Empty Bowl Symposium on Sept. 27, 2010 To Whom It May Concern: May I know how can I register for the said event? I would like to attend and participate in the said symposium. Your link to "click here to register" for the said event seems not working. Is there any other way to submit my name? Thank you for your kind assistance. Best regards, Maven
Amanda Huffman | 09:22:10 02:39pm
Maven, here is the link for NY's event https://tickets.asiasociety.org/public/auto_choose_ga.asp?area=27 We're also doing a sister event in San Francisco on the 30th. To register, please visit: https://secure.acceptiva.com/?cst=d8f297 Amanda AS Northern California

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