Reform Saarc to ensure food security: Experts
Food experts stressed the need for regional actions for the promotion of fair and competitive food market and effective operationalisation of the Saarc Food Bank.
They also suggested pursing reforms of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) in areas that affect the food security of the poor.
The experts were speaking at a discussion on “Food Justice in a Resource Constrained South Asia,” jointly organised by South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics and Environment (Sawtee) and Oxfam in Kathmandu yesterday.
“Unless the governments fix the broken food system, the region is going to face the most extreme situation of food insecurity in the near future,” said Cherian Mathews, Oxfam deputy regional director in Asia.
Mathews said despite being agriculture-based, this region houses 40 percent of the world's most hungry people.
Dr Posh Raj Pandey, the Executive Chairman of Sawtee, said the situation has further worsened due to the South Asian governments' and development partners' negligence on agricultural sector, and suggested increased investment in this sector.
“We've already seen what the food and financial crises have done to millions of poor. The protests ended but the impacts have remained with the prices still high. It's time for the governments to protect the universal right to make sure nobody goes to bed hungry,” said Dr Pandey.
Oxfam observed that the South Asian governments have largely failed to maintain food security of their population because of the broken food system and suggested going for reform in Saarc food policy.
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