Food crisis looms anew as El Niño cuts harvests

MANILA, Philippines – A repeat of the 2007-2008 Asian rice price crisis looms because of a strong El Niño and the threat needs to be immediately addressed amid dwindling harvests.

Headquartered in Los Baños, Laguna, the International Rice Research has renewed its call for tighter cooperation among all rice-growing countries, particularly across Asia to stem the crisis should such emerge.

Drought from the current El Niño episode has already caused lower harvests and irregular planting across several rice-producing countries and is expected to further cut rice stocks among the world’s top exporters to levels not seen since 2008.

“Combined with lower stocks in some key countries, emerging patterns in regional and global grain supply threaten the repeat of the painful rice price crisis in 2007-08,” the IRRI said.

The 2007-08 price crisis led the ASEAN to put together the ASEAN Integrated Food Security (AIFS) Framework and an accompanying strategic action plan.

Beyond this framework and plan, however, much more needs to be done.

“Regional cooperation is essential to manage a food crisis,” said IRRI director general Matthew Morell in a letter to the secretaries general of the ASEAN member countries.

IRRI said Asia must now take pro-active steps to fight the deadly effects of the prolonged warm weather. 

To ensure maximum impact, cooperation would have to involve not only ASEAN member countries (Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) but also China, Japan, and South Korea (ASEAN+3) and India – which are the world’s biggest producers and consumers of rice. Combined, 90 percent  of the world’s rice is produced in Asia.

 IRRI has developed and offers its improved and resilient rice varieties, crop management technologies, and expertise to rice-growing countries.

Upon request of the governments of some of these countries, IRRI had helped develop national rice sector strategies, providing policy advice and technical assistance.

“The way to handle another crisis is for the ASEAN+3 and India to come together as a region with shared concerns and interests, and take advantage of IRRI as a regional and neutral resource,” said Bruce Tolentino, deputy director general for communication and partnerships at IRRI.

IRRI’s call for action also includes an appeal for serious investment in rice research, which has borne the brunt of decreasing support in agriculture globally.

Rice research has historically been supported mainly by Western donor countries, and to a much lesser degree by rice-growing countries.

IRRI seeks to push this dynamic to a more appropriate balance, that is, for the biggest rice stakeholders to invest the most in research.

The Philippines, eighth largest producer of rice in the world in 2015 and one of the most at risk countries from climate change, has risen to the challenge and is now IRRI’s fourth biggest donor.

Other Asian countries, such as Vietnam, Thailand, Taiwan, India, and Indonesia, are also now ramping up investment in rice research, and moving toward helping finance the science that benefits their own countries.