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Trusting Trade and the Private Sector for Food Security in Southeast Asia

Author

Listed:
  • Hamid R. Alavi
  • Aira Htenas
  • Ron Kopicki
  • Andrew W. Shepherd
  • Ramon Clarete

Abstract

This book challenges policy makers who oversee the rice sector in Southeast Asia to reexamine deep-rooted precepts about their responsibilities. As an essential first step, it calls on them to redefine food security. Fixating on national self-sufficiency has been costly and counterproductive. In its stead, coordination and cooperation can both improve rice production at home and structure expanding regional trade. To enhance regional food security through quantitative and qualitative gains in rice production, policy makers cannot solely rely on government programs. They need to also enlist private investors both as entrepreneurs and as partners who can bring capital, energy, modern technology, and experienced management into sustained efforts to reduce losses and heighten efficiency in supply chains. For such investors and participants to enter vigorously into the rice sector from which they have long held back, they will need a number of incentives, among them a confidence that the regional market for rice will evolve toward a structured, liberalized market shielded from the unilateral government interventions that have distorted it in the past and continue to do so in the present. The study's findings make it clear that current rice sector policies are not achieving their desired goals. Its examination of the 2007-08 food crises found, in fact, that government policies and panicky responses were the primary factors behind soaring (and later diminishing) rice prices. Those policies vary, but they share a common premise: food security depends, first of all, on self-sufficiency in rice. That premise has driven government intervention for decades, and unpredictable government intervention, in turn, has been a significant factor in making the rice sector too risky to attract significant private investment. The transition that this study urges will be difficult and, of necessity, slow to gain momentum. Nevertheless, it is already beginning. The members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are working to liberalize trade in the region. The study is, in fact, intended to assist in implementing policy objectives outlined in the ASEAN Integrated Food Security (AIFS) framework and in the strategic plan of action on food security in the ASEAN Region 2009-2013, in which the heads of member states pledged to embrace food security as a matter of permanent and high priority.

Suggested Citation

  • Hamid R. Alavi & Aira Htenas & Ron Kopicki & Andrew W. Shepherd & Ramon Clarete, 2012. "Trusting Trade and the Private Sector for Food Security in Southeast Asia," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2384.
  • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbpubs:2384
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Briones, Roehlano M. & Tolin, Lovely Ann C., 2016. "Warehouse Receipts as a System for Improving the Efficiency of Rice and Corn Marketing in the Philippines," Discussion Papers DP 2016-45, Philippine Institute for Development Studies.
    2. Briones, Roehlano M., 2013. "The Structure of Agricultural Trade Industry in Developing Countries," Discussion Papers DP 2013-15, Philippine Institute for Development Studies.
    3. Arnold H. Fang, 2016. "Linkage between Rural Voters and Politicians: Effects on Rice Policies in the Philippines and Thailand," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 3(3), pages 505-517, September.
    4. Marc Jim M. Mariano & James A. Giesecke & Nhi H. Tran, 2015. "The effects of domestic rice market interventions outside business-as-usual conditions for imported rice prices," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(8), pages 809-832, February.
    5. Mather, David & Belton, Ben, 2018. "Mechanization And Crop Productivity, Profitability And Labor Use In Myanmar’S Dry Zone," Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security Policy Research Papers 275681, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics, Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security (FSP).
    6. Baffes, John & Dennis, Allen, 2013. "Long-term drivers of food prices," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6455, The World Bank.
    7. Minten, Bart & Tamru, Seneshaw & Legesse, Ermias Engida & Kuma, Tadesse, 2018. "Supply chain from production areas to Addis Ababa," IFPRI book chapters, in: The economics of teff: Exploring Ethiopia’s biggest cash crop, chapter 11, pages 263-298, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    8. Minten, Bart & Tamru, Seneshaw & Engida, Ermias & Kuma, Tadesse, 2013. "Using Evidence in Unraveling Food Supply Chains in Ethiopia: The Supply Chain of Teff from Major Production Areas to Addis Ababa," 2013 Fourth International Conference, September 22-25, 2013, Hammamet, Tunisia 159706, African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE).
    9. Minten, Bart & Tamru, Seneshaw & Engida, Ermias & Kuma, Tadesse, 2013. "Using evidence in unraveling food supply chains in Ethiopia: The supply chain of teff from major production areas to Addis Ababa:," ESSP working papers 54, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    10. repec:aly:journl:201713 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Yujia Wang & Wenfu Wu & Zidan Wu & Na Zhang & Shuyao Li & Xianmei Meng, 2022. "Revealing a Significant Latent Loss of Dry Matter in Rice Based on Accurate Measurement of Grain Growth Curve," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-12, March.
    12. Ian Gillson & Amir Fouad, 2015. "Trade Policy and Food Security : Improving Access to Food in Developing Countries in the Wake of High World Prices," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 20537.

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