The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has called upon countries to rethink food crisis responses and build a resilient system that can withstand frequent volatility and shocks.
In its South Asia release of the Global Food Policy Report 2023 released on Monday, the IFPRI has identified trade and safety net programs as major instruments to attain food security during the crises in South Asia, with the example of Bangladesh's response to the 1998 floods and the recent Covid-19 pandemic.
At the launch of this flagship report at the Marriott Kathmandu, IFPRI Director General Johan Swinnen said the report is focused "on rethinking food crisis responses" in a world where crises, shocks, and volatility "may become the new normal."
The protracted pandemic, natural disasters, civil unrest and political instability, growing impacts of climate change, and the Russia-Ukraine war have disrupted the global food system and added to the rising numbers of hungry and displaced people in 2022.
"All these crises are coming together, one after another, and we are also witnessing a strong increase in the volatility and shocks to our systems. Crises, shocks, and volatility are no longer exceptions and may become the new normal. Thus, the report is focused on rethinking food crisis responses in such a world and features concrete strategies and recommendations for crisis response with a focus on different regions and countries," Johan Swinnen said.
The IFPRI's South Asia Regional Office organized this two-day regional launching event in Kathmandu in partnership with the Institute for Integrated Development Studies (IIDS), the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), and regional associations such as Bimstec and Saarc.
Deputy Prime Minister of Nepal Narayan Kaji Shrestha unveiled the report and said that Nepal was one of the first countries in the South Asia region to enact a disaster-specific act called the Natural Calamity Relief Act in 1982.
"Given how vulnerable our country is, we have continued to build on those institutional frameworks, prioritizing disaster risk reduction and transitioning from a reactive to a proactive approach," he said.
This shift in policy came about because of the tragic 2015 Gorkha earthquake which killed around 9,000 people.
"I think Nepal and other countries in the region need to focus on developing strong anticipatory action frameworks to organize and plan humanitarian aid effectively," he said.
He also stressed the role of Bimstec and Saarc in this regard.
Secretary General of Bimstec Tenzin Lekphell, and Director of the Agriculture, Rural Development and Saarc Development Fund (SDF) Jamal Uddin Ahmed also spoke at the event.
Tenzin Lekphell said the "focus of this report is not only timely but critical and it calls for a comprehensive and inclusive approach to address rising food prices and promote long-term resilience in our food systems."
Jamal Uddin Ahmed said the IFPRI emphasized the term "rethinking", and rightly so.
"In the last three years, the resilience of our food system has been tested to the limit, which testifies that in order to adapt to this kind of unforeseen adversaries, we are required to reinvent a food crisis response system that is more capable of absorbing shocks, managing disruption in the supply chain, and ensuring food security for people from all spectrums. The call for modifying the food crisis response system has never been stronger," he said.
Saarc's pursuit of food security is on, he said, as it hosts a food bank, seed bank, and gene bank, apart from the Saarc Agriculture Centre.
While presenting the South Asia perspective, Dr Shahidur Rashid, Director of South Asia at the IFPRI, said climate extremes have become the norm across South Asia with over 800 million people in this region living in climate hotspots.
"In 2022, South Asia saw the highest temperature recorded in 122 years. Floods alone could cost South Asia $215 billion every year, and by 2050, climate migrants can reach 40 million. South Asia's success in building a resilient crisis response system has implications for the global development agenda. The world will not achieve the global development agenda unless Asia achieves it. Building a sustainable food system in South Asia is perhaps more important than doing so in any other region in the world," he said.
South Asia has a lot to offer, he also said, as preparedness has improved, death tolls from extreme weather events are now fewer.
"South Asia has some of the most innovative safety net programs. New initiatives are being adopted in almost all countries. Take the example of floods in Bangladesh in 1998," he said.
Later, he explained to Dhaka Tribune that in 1998, there had been predictions that 2 million people would die of hunger and starvation.
"But that did not happen. It's because India had opened the border allowing the private sector to buy food. Three million tons of food arrived in a short time," he said, adding that there is no doubt that trade and safety net programmes are crucial to managing such shocks.
"Why did Bangladesh do well during the pandemic? It's because of safety net programmes," he told Dhaka Tribune.
"But more needs to be done that includes regional early warning strengthening, removing trade restrictions, and making commitments to address these existential challenges for the region. That's why we have brought the Bimstec and the Saarc together," he said.
But experts who were present at the event showed little confidence in those regional groups. The trust deficit is an issue in South Asia.
"The Saarc Food Bank was established, but it was not so successful. Such a novel idea…but could not succeed. We need to resolve those," said Dr S Irudaya Rajan, Chairperson of the International Institute for Migration and Development, while chairing a panel discussion.
Intra-regional trade among the seven Bimstec member states is only about 7% of their total trade.