APEC ministers hold 1st meeting on food security+

NIIGATA, Japan, Oct. 16 Kyodo -
Pacific Rim economies studied how to expand the availability of food through
agriculture development, investment and trade at their first ministerial
meeting on food security that opened Saturday in Niigata Prefecture.
The 21 members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum are expected to
produce the Niigata declaration on APEC food security and an action plan aimed
at preventing food shortages when they wrap up the two-day meeting on Sunday.
In his opening remarks, Japanese Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister
Michihiko Kano, who chairs the meeting, said, ''To feed people in the world, it
is estimated that food production needs to be boosted by 1.7-fold,'' due to an
expected increase in the world's population to 9.1 billion by 2050 and economic
development.
''But we face such issues threatening food production as climate change, water
shortage, soil deterioration and natural disasters,'' Kano said. ''I hope
discussions at this opportunity will mark the first step forward toward our
cooperation to act for the sake of future generations.''
Participants discussed two main themes -- how to ensure sustainable development
of the agricultural sector and how to facilitate investment, trade and markets
to improve access to food, Japanese officials said.
The meeting is one of the APEC meetings ahead of the upcoming annual APEC
summit in November in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, and provides a forum for
developing APEC's growth strategy.
With the Asia-Pacific region facing continuing starvation problems and playing
a key role as the world's food supplier, APEC members have decided to hold
their first ministerial meeting on food security to develop a cooperative
relationship in their food and agricultural policies, the officials said.
Together, APEC members produce about half the world's grain crops but are home
to more than 20 percent of the world's undernourished people. The region is
also susceptible to disasters like earthquakes and floods that threaten
agriculture.
The Niigata gathering came after spikes in food prices several years ago
resulted in riots in poor nations and underscored the importance of food
security, including stability in production and prices.
The participants shared the view that it is important to boost their capacity
to supply food through agriculture development and to promote fair and adequate
investments in agriculture, the officials said.
Japanese farm minister Kano also held bilateral talks with his counterparts
from Russia, the Philippines, Mexico and Taiwan, and agreed to cooperate to
ensure long-term food security, according to the officials.
For Japan, stabilizing the APEC region's food supply, together with improving
domestic agricultural productivity, is an important issue as the nation has the
worst food self-sufficiency ratio among major economies.
The Japanese government is aiming to boost the nation's food self-sufficiency
ratio from around 40 percent in calorie terms in 2009 to 50 percent by 2020.
Japan assumed the rotating chairmanship of APEC this year and has been hosting
a series of meetings nationwide.
APEC, which accounts for about half of the world's economic output, involves
members such as Australia, China, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Korea, the
United States, and seven members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
==Kyodo