Rice shortage threatens Asia-Pacific
Updated
Asian governments are becoming concerned about food security with the supply and price of rice becoming critical.
Presenter: Karon Snowdon
Speakers: Les Gordon, President of the Australian Rice Growers Association; Jimmy Tadeo, the Philippines National Rice Farmers Council; Solomons Finance Minister Snyder Rini; Sanjay Punja, chief executive of Flour Mills Fiji.
SNOWDON: More and more reports are painting a picture of growing problems with soaring food prices.
There's less land, less labour and less water to grow essential crops.
And rice is very labour and water intensive. Plus the weather has been as usual a major factor - drought in Australia, floods elsewhere, snowstorms in China.
Around the region the warnings are growing louder.
The Philippines National Rice Farmers Council says the coming harvest will be disastrous.
Spokesman Jimmy Tadeo, a rice farmer for 44 years, is forecasting production of just 2 million tons - that's just two months supply.
He criticises successive Philippine governments for relying on imports in the place of developing domestic agriculture.
TADEO: It is because the growing population and the decreasing irrigated area being affected by rampant land conversion because our economy is being dominated by the landlords. So we have now a shortage or shortfall of two million to buy million metric tonnes of rice a year. This is actually a crisis. So the Philippine government is trying to move heaven and earth to import rice from Vietnam and Thailand, but they're not committing anything.
SNOWDON: The President has warned people against hoarding rice, do you think that that's going on? Are people hoarding rice?
TADEO: Yes of course, there's a rice cartel in this country. The problem with this government seven years now they are not able to destroy rice cartels.
SNOWDON: The UN's World Food Program has made an urgent appeal for an extra 500 million dollars to help feed 70 million people this year.
It says high food prices have blown its budget.
Rice is a staple food - it's the main source of nutrition for half the world's population.
India's ban on exports has thrown neighbouring Bangladesh into crisis - its own crop was destroyed by a cyclone in December.
Even the Solomon Islands government has been forced to abolish its rice tax.
Finance Minister Snyder Rini says the national budget will shift taxes to beer, tobacco and gambling.
RINI: This will benefit all our people and most particularly the vulnerable people as rice makes up a relatively large part of their expenditure.
SNOWDON: Another Pacific nation Fiji ran out of rice last week, until new shipments arrived.
Supermarkets are expected to start rationing, leading some village elders to recommend the planting of more vegetables.
Sanjay Punja, the chief executive of Flour Mills Fiji says the global price increases are hitting hard.
PUNJA: The price of rice used to be only a year ago 300 dollars a ton and the price of rice today is almost 800 dollars a ton, so it affects the common person a lot more in Fiji than what it does in Australia.
SNOWDON: New suppliers have to be found.
PUNJA: We normally used to buy most of our rice, in fact all of our rice out of Australia. We then moved over to China and China has now put a export ban on the supply of rice. So we are now forced to buy rice out of Bangkok and from the east coast of America.
SNOWDON: Vietnam is also worrying about the erosion of the nation's food security. The Minister for Agriculture says rice fields are being lost to urban development.
Vietnam is one of the world's largest exporters but at the current rate of arable land loss, rice production in Vietnam is expected to fall by about one-million tonnes a year.
Australia won't be exporting at all.
Normally 85 per cent of its production is exported but the crop is down by 90 per cent because of the decade long drought.
The loss to global supply will be felt at this time because while only a small producer, Australian exports account for 4 per cent of world trade normally.
Les Gordon, President of the Rice Growers Association says his area has been two years with no crop at all.
GORDON: Well it's as tough as I've ever seen it.
SNOWDON: Thailand, the world's biggest exporter is reviewing its trade.
But there's a glimmer of hope at least in Australia.
Les Gordon says the northern monsoon has helped.
GORDON: There's an air of confidence around or quiet optimism but we've had that before and it's all got beaten up.
