FAO welcomes initiative towards computerised food security monitoring
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THE move towards a computerised implementation and monitoring system to track food security accurately in the Asean region will help countries offset the shocks caused by price and supply-and-demand fluctuations, an workshop has heard.
The workshop, co-organised by Food and Agriculture Organisation’s Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific and the Asean Secretariat, aims to get people up to speed on the key elements of a computer-based system for the Asean Integrated Food Security (AIFS) Framework and the Strategic Plan of Action on Food Security (SPA-FS).
“Through a technical cooperation programme, country focal points will learn how to enter the required data, and Asean Secretariat staff will discover how to use this computerised information to monitor progress of the AIFS and SPA-FS,” said Hiroyuki Konuma, FAO assistant director-general and regional representative.
“FAO has been assisting Asean with development and implementation of its AIFS and SPA-FS since 2009, and we are honoured to continue being involved in the development of the second phase of Asean’s AIFS Framework and SPA-FS for 2015-2020,” he added.
The collection of data and computerisation of AIFS and SPA-FS implementation and monitoring is a very important step forward with regard to the joint work of the FAO and the Asean Secretariat in matters of ensuring food security, Konuma said.
“Although most food commodities are presently in plentiful supply in our region, and prices are at a five-year low for the most part, it hasn’t always been that way,” he told workshop participants.
“The food shocks and price hikes of the last decade have taught us we need to be better prepared, and this new system will go some way to ensuring that.
“As we go forward, a generation from now, our cities will have grown enormously.
By 2050, the world population will have increased to more than 9 billion, and our ability to ensure there is enough food will be seriously challenged.”
Konuma said the FAO estimated that at least 60 per cent more food would need to be produced to meet future demand. “That’s why the more we do now to prepare, the better off we’ll be in facing those challenges we know are coming.”
