Why Asia is facing a food problem?

NBC   Nov 27 2019

Asia is “unable to feed itself” — and needs to invest another $800 billion in the next 10 years to produce more food and meet the region’s needs, according to a report.

The population in Asia is growing, and consumers are demanding safer, healthier, and more sustainable food.

 Food spending will more than double — from $4 trillion in 2019 to over $8 trillion by 2030, said the Asia Food Challenge Report which was released last week.

“If this investment does not materialise, we believe the industry will struggle to keep up with demand, resulting in poorer food outcomes for Asia’s population,” according to the authors of the report which was compiled by PwC, Rabobank, and Singapore investment firm Temasek.

Why Asia is facing a food problem

“Asia is unable to feed itself, relying on imports flowing through long supply chains from the Americas, Europe and Africa,” according to the report that was released Nov. 20.

That’s consistent with research from a 2018 United Nations Conference on Trade and Development report. “In general, countries in Latin America, East Africa and South Asia are net food exporters, while most of the rest of Asia and Africa remain net food importers,” the Key Statistics and Trends in International Trade report said.