Food security in South Asia: Much needed regional cooperation
With 1.7 bn people, South Asia has more inhabitants than Europe, North and South America put together. In a few years time South Asia is expected to overtake East Asia and then will be the most populous region of the world. Unfortunately, it is also the poorest region. More people are going hungry than in Africa. Feeding better a rising population will be one of the most pressing needs of the years ahead (Zingel 1999, 2006).
There is substantial inequality within the region, especially in food supply. If South Asian cooperation is to become meaningful, more collaboration will be needed in ensuring food security.
The state of food and nutrition in South Asia
South Asia is self-sufficient in food, at least on a net basis. Food production is enough for an average supply above 2.000 Kcal per head a day but that is the lowest of any world regions. Besides substantial inequality and insecurity of food supply, South Asia has a gender gap: Women and girls are the worst fed in the world. Compared by income groups, women and girls are less well fed in South Asia than in Asia.
As harvests fluctuate over the years, still depending on the seasonal monsoon rains, especially the poorer people suffer in years of bad harvests.
Amartya K. Sen has brought out that there are no famines in democracies. However, there still is hunger.
SWOT: strength and weaknesses, opportunities and threats
The greatest strength of South Asian agriculture is that it has been keeping the pace of population growth and even to grow a little faster, so that South Asia on average has been better fed by own production than in previous decades. Even in Bangladesh, we have been witnessing an unexpected rise not only of industrial, but also of agricultural production.
The major weakness is distribution. Markets work quite efficiently; there is hardly any need that South Asian governments engage themselves in the physical distribution besides investing in the necessary infrastructure for transport and communication. What is needed is a distribution of incomes and wealth, so that people have the necessary means either to produce enough for their own consumption or to purchase the quantities needed for a healthy subsistence.
The greatest threat comes from an overuse of the natural environment, from an irresponsible price policy in the power sector and a non-sustainable use of irrigation water.
Regional cooperation
Saarc was established in 1985. The idea was that South Asia might be united like Europe in the European Union or the Southeast Asia in ASEAN. In that hope, a South Asian Preferential Trade Area (Sapta) and a South Asian Free Trade Area (Safta) were established. Afghanistan joined Saarc in 2007. A number of states have observer status. It was hoped that the regional cooperation would help to overcome hostilities among neighbours as in Europe and in Southeast Asia. South Asia, however, is different, mainly because of the tense relation between its two major partners, India and Pakistan.
Although India and Pakistan are founding members of the WTO, they have used all possible excuses not to open their borders for bilateral trade. Most of the bilateral trade goes via third countries, especially Dubai, blamed in India and Pakistan as “smuggleâ€. The trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan also mostly goes unaccounted, helped by Afghanistan's transit rights through Pakistan and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) being a virtual free trade zone.
The situation between India and Bangladesh is not much better: There are only a few crossings; paperwork easily takes days and Indian entrepreneurs are blaming the Indian government more than the governments of the neighbouring countries of obstructing trade and transport.
When in 1965 bad weather resulted in a steep decline in production and India and Pakistan were on the brink of famine, the subcontinent was saved by large scale 'wheat loans' of the USA and other exporters that later were turned into grants. 'Food power' as the then US Vice-President called it, had become a mighty weapon. For Indira Gandhi, who then became Prime Minister, it was a clear signal that India had to become independent in food supply at any cost. Since then, India has been pursuing a policy of price control, procurement and public food distribution. Indian stocks of food grain became the largest in the world. The main argument for a cautious food policy is that a huge country like India cannot hope to simply close a production gap by imports from the world market.
The situation was very different in neighbouring Bangladesh that usually imports around one tenth of food-grain requirements. In previous years, imports used to come from Thailand and other countries, now they come from India. The Bangladeshi government had the greatest difficulties to remind the Indian exporters to stick to prices agreed on earlier.
The seven Saarc members outside India together have not more than one third of the population of India. In case of need, they could only supply a small fraction of food what would be needed in India. The other way round, India would be in the position to meet almost all requirements from her neighbours.
Where cooperation is urgently needed is in resource management. Pakistan and Bangladesh are lower riparian of the Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna/Surma and all their tributaries. In 1960, Pakistan and India signed the Indus Water Treaty that gave exclusive rights to three rivers each to the two countries. It has been a blessing politically. In the case of the Ganges, such a solution has not been possible, although there is a bilateral agreement between India and Bangladesh on the use of the Ganges water, the most important factor has not been addressed: Water all over South Asia is highly subsidized. Governments bear most of the construction and running costs of the irrigation networks, fuel for diesel and for electric pumps are provided at below market prices, if not free of charge. The resulting overuse of irrigation water means that hardly any water arrives at the lower stretches of the large rivers; in the case of the Ganges less and less water is left to be distributed.
Regional Cooperation leaves much to be desired. The problem is political. If the countries of South Asia come to a partnership and build cooperation there will be hardly any people starved.
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