Five Key Areas To Tackle Food Security

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 27 (Bernama) -- Five key initiatives -- seed bank, fertilisers, animal feed, standards & trade issues and marine and fisheries -- have been outlined in the Kuala Lumpur Initiative To Address Food Security in the Developing Eight (D8) Countries as the Muslim nations grouping reaffirmed its commitment to address food security.

The initiatives were endorsed by ministers and policymakers of the D8 as they convened here for the three-day D8 Ministers' Meeting on Food Security, which ends today, to address food security.

The countries that make up the D8 are Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Egypt and Nigeria.

They agreed that each initiative be championed by appointed countries, which will act as the prime movers to implement the respective initiatives.

Turkey and Iran have been appointed as the prime movers for the seed bank programme; Malaysia and Indonesia for animal feed; Egypt for fertilisers; Iran and Turkey for standards and trade issues and Indonesia for marine and fisheries.

Speaking in a news conference after the issuance of the Kuala Lumpur Initiative, Malaysia's Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Datuk Mustapa Mohamed said the prime movers should convene the first workshop within six months to discuss detailed implementation issues.

He said the D8 secretariat in Istanbul, Turkey, had been assigned to monitor the progress of the KL Initiative.

"The successful implementation of the KL Initiative will increase food production and strengthen food security in D8 countries, he said.

The Kuala Lumpur Initiative will provide a pragmatic approach to determine the scope of cooperation among the governments of D8 countries in partnership with the private sector to ensure the availability of quality seeds, animal feed and fertilisers.

While the role of governments is important to support and facilitate the implementation of cooperation projects, it is expected that the private sector of all D8 countries will be key players in determining the success and implementation of the projects identified, according to the declaration.

On the fertilisers initiative, the meeting agreed to:

* Encourage initiatives especially among the private sectors of D8 countries to create joint ventures in the establishment of fertiliser plants and to make available supply of the fertilisers to all D8 countries at competitive prices.

* Establish joint research and technological collaboration in production and supply of fertilisers to manufacture customised organic and non-organic fertilisers.

* Strengthen capacity building and promote closer collaboration to accelerate transfer and adoption of new technologies in production and crop improvement and harmonisation of standards in the production of quality fertilisers.

On the animal feed, to:

* Establish a D8 corporation to carry out reserach and development (R&D) activities of strategic commodities in D8 member countries.

* Create a centralised information sharing mechanism to facilitate systematic information collection and sharing.

* Foster greater utilisation of credit facilities for food production and supply provided by international financial and lending institutions such as Islamic Development Bank (IDB).

* Facilitate through the harmonisation of standards among D8 countries based on international standards.

* Implement capacity building programmes through a centralised information centre and encourage the utilisation of non-food crops for bio-fuel production.

On seed bank, to:

* Establish modalities for downstream seed production through the establishment of a National Seed Bank and a D8 Umbrella Seed Bank.

* Form creative collaborative R&D programmes between private and public sector organisations and standardise and harmonise seed certification and quality enforcement procedures among the D8 countries.

The meeting agreed that the D8 trade in fertilisers, animal feed and seeds would increase with the entry into force of the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) and they looked forward to its early ratification by all the D8 countries.

They also acknowledged the importance of information gathering among D8 countries and agreed on the establishment of a market information service system in the D8 countries initiated on animal feed, seed banks and fertilisers.

The ministers also agreed that it was important to address the issues of standards and trade issues separately as it encompassed all the three subject matters.

-- BERNAMA