Floods have ruined 13 per cent of crop areas in Thailand, 12 per cent in Cambodia, 7.5 per cent in Laos and 6 percent in the Philippines, according to the FAO. Continue reading »
Aug 282010
Global food prices are projected to rise in future as a result of changing weather patterns, water scarcity, higher oil prices and increased demand from emerging markets like China and India.
Agricultural research station, Thailand
As if that’s not enough, financial speculators are turning their attention to agricultural commodities and gambling on food products. See the Spiegel article here and the Green World Investor blog here.
We were warned in 2008 of a global food crisis. But have we learned any lessons? Are we doing enough to promote food security and sustainability in Malaysia (other than corporate agriculture)?
While we are obsessed with FDI, are we doing enough to chart out a sustainable – and the key word is sustainable or organic – agriculture blueprint that would meet the needs of our people in the future? Continue reading »
Mar 092010
Have you been to the market recently and scratched your heads at the rising prices of vegetables and fruit. What do you do?
Vegetable and fruit prices have almost doubled over the last six months or so. And there is nothing to suggest that it won’t rise even further.
At one time, we had quite a few vegetable farms in Penang. Now most of our vegetables and fruit have to be brought in from Camerons, Australia, China and the United States.
This is not an ideal situation on three counts:
- Transporting food from great distances increases the carbon foot-print of these items.
- We become more dependent on external sources for our food, i.e. we move away from self-sufficiency and food security. What happens when these places don’t have enough to supply us? Prices will rocket, as we are gradually finding out now.
- We get hooked on the pesticide/chemical model of agrobusiness. By right each state in Malaysia should be looking into what it can do to promote self-sufficiency in organic food. Perhaps we could become a hub for organic food in the region.
Now along comes an initiative to show what ordinary people like you and me can do.
