The Council of Agriculture (COA) said since the international community has paid close attention to food security because of food crisis triggered by global food and oil price hikes in 2007 and 2008, plus the impact of global climate changes on food production, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) convened the first APEC Ministerial Meeting on Food Security on October 16-17, 2010 inNiigata, Japan. The Taiwan delegation headed by COA Minister Wu-hsiung Chen had dialogues with their counterparts from APEC and related international organizations and discussed the issues of “sustainable agricultural development” and “promoting trade and investment in agriculture and gaining access to food supply” to formulate strategies to ensure food security in the APEC region. The ministers issued a joint declaration after the meeting, formulated the APEC food security action plan and actively promoted works related to regional food security. The Taiwandelegation presented in the meeting six action plans including the establishment of “APEC emergency food reserve mechanism” to ensure food security in Taiwan and the Asia-Pacific region.

Global Food Crisis Still Exists   Ensure Food Security Is APEC’s responsibility and Mission

The Council pointed out that under the impact of global climate changes, high energy prices, development of biomass energy in many countries, and increased demand for food by emerging economies, food price hikes in the second half of 2007 and 2008 triggered food crisis in several regions. Although global supply of grains has been improved at present, international food prices are still high and food crisis may occur at any time. Besides, it is estimated that the global population will increase to more than 9.1 billion in 2050 and food demand is expected to grow by more than 50%. But the impact of global climate changes will increase the danger of food shortage in the future. Therefore, how to ensure food security has become the most important global agricultural issue as well as the common responsibility and mission for APEC economies.

Since food security is the basic element for people’s lives, APEC convened the first Ministerial Meeting on Food Security for ministers and representatives responsible for food security from APEC economies to formulate strategies to ensure food security in their region.

Actively Proposing Regional Cooperation Mechanism to Create Win-Win Situation

The COA said Minister Chen explained in the Niigataministerial meeting that Taiwanconvened the APEC Forum on Food Security in Taipei in August 2010 to ensure food security for people in the Asia-Pacific region in response to the resolution passed by APEC leaders. Some 100 government officials and representatives of the food industry and academia from 20 APEC economies attended the forum and reached a consensus on several food security issues. Chen also reported to the meeting various agricultural adjustment strategies formulated in the Policy Conference on Adjusting Agriculture in Response to Climate Changes held in Taipei last June. And the Taiwan delegation shared with Niigata ministerial meeting participants Taiwan agricultural agencies’ experience of coping with natural disasters, and proposed six APEC food security action plans on utilization of native vegetable and food crop genetic resources, post-harvest treatment technology, development of anti-stress breeding, agricultural and irrigation techniques, and establishment of APEC emergency food reserve mechanism to effectively ensure food security in Taiwan and the Asia-Pacific region.

Minister Chen also had bilateral meetings with some of his APEC counterparts to strengthen agricultural cooperation and exchanges between Taiwan and the rest of the Asia-Pacific region in order to create a win-win situation.