Thailand has stepped up its efforts to ensure food security with a first strategic plan to cope with escalating demands in both domestic and overseas markets in the future.

The government first started drafting food strategies in 2008 to ensure sufficient and stable supplies for human consumption and industrial uses after world food prices hit record high amid fears of a food crisis around the globe.

"But the food shortage situation became less intense in the following years and the change of governments has interrupted the ambitious goal," said Apichart Jongskul, secretary-general of the Office of Agricultural Economics.

The crisis, however, is likely to come back this year considering the upward price trend of commodities and several food crops. This has driven the government to speed up the plans.

Natural disasters led to low production of rice, cassava, rubber and sugarcane last year, with the production index falling by 3.44% year-on-year.

On the other hand, the strong prices of these crops helped drive the farm price index for the entire year to reach an all-time high at 156.64 points, compared with 126.49 in 2009 and 132.57 in 2008, when grain prices soared critically, pushed by expensive fuel.

According to Mr Apichart, the strategic plans to be carried out from 2012 to 2016 would cover four areas: food security, food safety, food quality, and food education. The government has raised the plans as a national agenda by putting them in the next 11th National Economic and Social Plan to run over the same five-year period.

Chalermporn Pirunsarn, the permanent secretary for agriculture and also chairman of the sub-committee for the food security section, said the current problem was that Thailand has limited farmland. The government would therefore try its best to stall urbanisation, either for the living purpose or production.

"Last year, natural disasters such as floods and drought have affected the local farm sector on a large scale, resulting in low output and high prices, " Mr Chalermporn said.

The UN reports the world population is estimated to rise to 9 billion in 2050, up from 6.89 billion in 2009.
"Demand for food will be higher by approximately 70% from now and the level of nourishment among people will be low unless there are adequate world food supplies," said Mr Apichart.

He said that under the strategies, investments to promote production and improve quality would be emphasised.

Thailand will also look for options for the easier transfer of seeds among Asean countries. A consultant firm will be hired to study the pros and cons of the case.

Moreover, the plans, which would involve several government agencies, aim to increase the expenditure on research and development for food.

The International Rice Research Institute previously encouraged Asian countries to put at least $120 million a year from now to 2030 into increasing production by an average of 8.5% a year in order to ensure stable world rice supply.

Source: Bangkok Post