APEC ministers agree to boost food output, facilitate farm trade

NIIGATA, Japan, Oct. 17 (Kyodo) - Pacific Rim economies agreed Sunday on the need to boost agricultural production, and facilitate farm trade and investment at their first ministerial meeting on food security in Niigata Prefecture to prevent food shortages amid the rise in the world's population and the threat of climate change.
The 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum also agreed to work
together to ensure stability in food prices so that poor nations do not suffer
from price hikes as it adopted the Niigata Declaration on APEC Food Security
and an action plan at the end of the two-day meeting.
''Increasing the availability of sufficient, safe and nutritious food in the
APEC region through expanded supply capacity, underpinned by viable rural
communities, will be necessary to address a possible supply-demand imbalance
for food that may result from future population and income growth,'' the
declaration said.
At a press conference after the meeting, Japan's Agriculture, Forestry and
Fisheries Minister Michihiko Kano said as its chair, ''We reached a common
understanding on food security by overcoming differences on conditions and
terms of the 21 members. I believe this means a lot.''
The outcome of the meeting will be forwarded to the upcoming annual APEC summit
in November in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture.
The APEC forum's first ministerial meeting on food security came amid a growing
need to focus on how to feed the increasing world population and how to ensure
stable food prices following price spikes between 2007 and 2008 that resulted
in riots in poor nations.
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization has said that in order to
accommodate an estimated world population of over 9 billion by 2050, food
production must increase by 70 percent.
During the talks in Niigata, participants also agreed to cooperate on tackling
the negative impact of climate change and natural disasters. The region is
susceptible to natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods that threaten
agriculture.
The ministers also reiterated the region's commitment to an early conclusion of
the World Trade Organization's Doha Round of trade liberalization talks and
confirmed an extension of the 2008 APEC summit agreement to refrain from
introducing new barriers to investment and trade or export restrictions until
2011.
While acknowledging the value of foreign direct investment in agriculture, the
APEC economies recognized there is growing commercial pressure on land and
other natural resources in developing countries that receive such investment,
and called for ''responsible'' farm investment aimed at benefiting recipient
economies, local communities and investors.
Under the action plan, members were assigned various tasks, such as conducting
research and sharing information on ensuring food security, and the forum
agreed to report progress on implementing the tasks to APEC ministers on an
annual basis.
Japan assumed the rotating chair of the forum this year for the first time
since 1995 and has been hosting a series of meetings nationwide.
APEC, which accounts for about half of the world's economic output, includes
Australia, China, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Korea, the United States and
seven members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.