ASEAN - ASEAN Plus Three to intensify food security cooperation

Rice is key to achieving food security in Southeast Asian region as around two-thirds of world rice production originate in ASEAN Plus Three countries (China, Japan, and South Korea) and more than half of the world’s rice exports comes from this region.

To guarantee long-term food security, the 10-member ASEAN and its three partner countries signed the ASEAN Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve (APTERR) Agreement on the sidelines of the 11th ASEAN Plus Three Ministers of Agriculture and Forestry (AMAF Plus Three) in Jakarta on Friday.

"The Agreement is testimony to ASEAN’s efforts with China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea to ensure long-term food security and the livelihoods of the peoples in the region as envisioned by the ASEAN Heads of Government at the 14th ASEAN Summit in 2009," the Jakarta-based ASEAN Secretariat said on its website.

Under the APTERR program, the 13 countries secure 787,000 tons of rice stock in anticipation of sudden instabilities of rice production and supply caused by natural disasters, said Achmad Suryana, the AMAF organizing committee chair and concurrent director of Indonesia’s National Food Security Agency, at the sidelines of the AMAF senior officials meeting on Wednesday.

For the APTERR program, China will contribute 300,000 tons of rice, Japan 250,000 tons, and South Korea 150,000 tons.

Thailand will provide 15,000 tons of rice stock, while Vietnam and Myanmar will each contribute 14,000 tons. Indonesia and the Philippines will each provide 12,000 tons.

Malaysia and Singapore will provide 6,000 tons and 5,000 tons, respectively, while Brunei, Laos and Cambodia will each contribute 3,000 tons of rice stock.

In 2012, Indonesia planned to increase its contribution for the APTERR program to 25,000 tons.

ASEAN+3 members countries affected by natural disasters such as floods and volcanic eruptions could contact the APTERR Secretariat to get the rice, he explained.

"The APTERR will help countries in the region to meet the needs of their citizens during anticipated and unanticipated disasters as well as during acute and emergency situations providing a mechanism for quick and predictable emergency relief," said Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN for ASEAN Economic Community S. Pushpanathan in a statement.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, speaking at the 18th ASEAN Summit in May 2011, had suggested that the rice reserve be provided not only in emergencies caused by natural disasters, but also economic upheaval.

That view was supported by Pushpanathan who said, "in the long term, APTERR could expand to other staple food staples to support the region`s response to volatility in food prices and surge in food demand."

In addition to the rice reserve, the meeting also agreed on the contribution of the APTERR Secretariat’s operational funds amounting to US$4 million.

"The funds will be kept as endowment and the interest on the funds can be used to finance operational activities," Achmad said.

Indonesia has pledged $107,500 over five years, while Plus Three countries will each contribute $1 million.

Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam will also each contribute $107,500; and Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, $83,000.

ASEAN Plus Three countries are both major consumers and producers of rice.

Rice is a main staple fand an integrated part of culture and way of life in East Asia. Rice trade in the region, however, has been very small, at only 5-6 percent of the world’s rice production in the world market, according to ASEAN Secretary General Dr Surin Pitsuwan.

"As a result, there is a need to strengthen regional cooperation to ensure food security in the East Asia, which the APTERR Agreement will promote," Dr Surin of Thailand said.

The need to enhance ASEAN+3 cooperation in the food sector was also stressed by Vice President Boediono in his opening speech at the 11th Meeting of AMAF Plus Three in Jakarta on Friday.

"Cooperation in food is to become more urgent in the coming years and it was also in fact mandated by the 18th ASEAN Summit," Boediono said.

The attention of ASEAN and the world lately has been directed to a widening gap between food consumption and production globally, he said.

In the 18th ASEAN Summit last May, the heads of state explicitly instructed the concerned ministers to take concrete steps to address the gap problem, he added.

Boediono said ASEAN Plus Three cooperation should concern itself not only with food production but also consumption.

"Considering that the world population is estimated to reach 9.5 billion people by 2050, the global food production must be increased around 75 percent, and for the developing nations up to 100 percent," he said.

ASEAN senior officials and their counterparts from China, Japan, and South Korea have discussed concrete plans on food security in Southeast Asia the past few months.

The ASEAN ministers of agriculture and forestry were scheduled to meet with their Indian counterpart on Saturday.

ASEAN groups Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam.

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