ASEAN urged to explore rice-based food system

MANILA, Philippines — Agriculture Secretary William Dar is urging ASEAN countries to look at rice-based food systems in the region to help mitigate scarcity in wheat and corn amid the Ukraine-Russia conflict.

“With the other side of the world embroiled in conflict, we should explore insights from the rice-based food systems of Asia and Southeast Asia to counter the global challenges to our food production,” Dar said during the opening of the National Workshop on ASEAN–One CGIAR R4D Program.

“While the big producers of wheat and corn are undergoing a humanitarian crisis, rice-based food systems can step in to mitigate scarcity in other cereals. Hence, we welcome more research and technologies that will help both in the immediate-term and the long-term,” he said.

Based on data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), both Russia and Ukraine are among the top exporters of wheat, with Russia exporting the largest amount of wheat last year at 39.1 million metric tons (MT).

Similarly, Ukraine is also a major exporter of wheat, exporting 16.9 million MT last year. The country is also among the largest exporters of corn, registering 23.86 million MT of corn exports last year.

Russia is also among the top exporters of corn with a total of 3.99 million MT of corn exports.

Dar earlier emphasized the need to boost local food production amid the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine as this would lead to higher global food prices.

“The convergence of all the global challenges like increasing petroleum prices, distortion of the global supply chain, increase in shipping costs, increase of prices of agricultural inputs like fertilizers, feeds and now the Ukraine crisis, will definitely lead to global food price spike, leading to higher food inflation,”Dar told The Star earlier.

He stressed the need to boost productivity in the agriculture sector, which will lead to higher levels of local food production.

As part of the government’s efforts to cushion the impact of the Ukraine-Russia conflict on food security, Dar launched on Monday Plant, Plant, Plant Program 2 with a P24 billion budget, which was recently approved by President Duterte.

Bulk of the program’s budget or P20 billion has been allocated for fertilizer subsidies.

Urban and peri-urban agriculture, local feeds production, aquaculture and mariculture fisheries, and food mobilization have been allocated a budget of P1 billion each.

Apart from the Ukraine-Russia crisis, Dar also explained that despite the Southeast Asian region’s vast ecosystem that greatly supports agricultural production and food systems, it is unfortunately vulnerable and currently in peril due to a number of factors.

Among these are climate change, imprudent use of agrochemicals, water, and soil, rapid urbanization, biodiversity loss, the Covid-19 pandemic, and world conflicts, which all affect the environment and agricultural productivity.

“Despite these adversities, we in Southeast Asia, especially here in the Philippines, are rethinking and reformulating a shared vision to alleviate and secure a future with hope – the future food systems for the present and upcoming generations through science, research, and technology,” Dar said.

In line with this effort, Dar cited the Department of Agriculture’s OneDA Reform Agenda anchored on four pillars of consolidation, modernization, industrialization and professionalization, and features 18 key strategies, which aim to make the agriculture sector globally competitive, food secure and resilient.

Dar expressed optimism that the workshop would serve as an avenue for all the participants to achieve a common understanding of climate-related development challenges and to know agriculture and climate change research and development priorities in the country.

“May all of you come upon a resolute decision on how we can apply and disseminate all the research we do at One CGIAR,”Dar said.

CGIAR is a global research partnership for a food secure future dedicated to reducing poverty, enhancing food and nutrition security, and improvingnatural resources.