Multifunctionality of Agriculture
Agriculture provides Asian societies with a great deal more than farm products
With global free trade, Asian countries are under pressure to remove all barriers to imported food. Industrialized countries such as Japan have already done this to a large extent, and are importing more than half their food. If the multiple functions of agriculture are not taken fully into account, Asian countries may be forced to open up their domestic markets on the grounds of `price' alone, while other important considerations are overlooked.
Imported food may be cheaper and more varied than food which is produced domestically, and equal in terms of nutrition. However, it is not equal in other ways. Domestic food production in Asia helps conserve the environment, while imported food does not. Domestic food production in Asia provides jobs in rural areas and supports rural communities, while imported food weakens them.
In October, FFTC held an international seminar to discuss the multiple functions of agriculture and their economic value.
Food Security
Food security concerns, not only food production, but the availability of food, and access to food. It has been defined by FAO as:
"access by all people at all times to the food needed for a healthy and active life".
It is a central concern of every government in Asia
Exporting countries claim that Asian countries can replace the food they produce themselves with imported food, and still have a stable and secure food supply. However, most Asian countries are reluctant to become completely dependant on imports. They want to keep a certain level of self-sufficiency in food production. They worry that if there is a global food crisis caused by war or bad weather, exporting countries may not want to sell their food stocks overseas.
Both the price and the amount of food available on world markets tends to fluctuate. The global food supply is characterized by periodic food shortages in many places, and instability on the world grain market.
For importing countries, food security means removing the uncertainties which result from free trade. At the FFTC seminar, Director Torng-Chuang Wu suggested that addressing these concerns should involve action by both exporting and importing countries. Exporting countries might consider contracts, under which they undertake to reserve a certain level of food for export. Importing countries might need to maintain a certain level of self-sufficiency in food production, and adequate stocks of staple foods.
For food security to exist at a global level, tFood security concerns, not only food production, but the availability of food, and access to foodhere is a need for more efficient food production. This is the only way to solve the problem of food shortages in future. Sustainability must also be considered. Agricultural resources must be conserved, so that we ensure the food security of future generations.
Environmental Protection
The value of agriculture in terms of environmental protection has been studied in detail. The conservation effect of paddy farming, in particular, is very important (see page 8). Other types of farming also contribute to flood prevention, recharging of groundwater, and erosion control.
Not all externalities of agriculture are positive. Sometimes agriculture may have a negative effect on the environment. The cultivation of annual crops in upland areas, for example, may promote erosion rather than prevent it.
If we are to judge the extent of the benefits agriculture brings, and compare different kinds of land use, we must be able to give them a monetary value. At present, two main methods are used. The replacement cost method looks at what it would cost to provide the same goods and services on the open market. The contingent valuation method asks people what they are willing to pay for e.g. the environmental benefits of agriculture. For international use, a common methodology is needed, so that the results from one country can be compared with those from another. These should be carefully considered when there are changes in land use, e.g. from forestry to cultivated land, or from arable to residential use.
Although they are difficult to quantify, the positive externalities of agriculture are very valuable, and part of each country's national wealth. They may be lost if too much food is imported, at the expense of domestic agriculture. If this happens, imported food will have cost the importing country much more than the cost of the food. Rice can be imported, but its environmental benefits, including water storage and rural scenery, cannot.
The Multiple Functions of Rice Paddies
The value of agriculture in terms of environmental protection has been widely studied. In Asian countries, the positive benefits from paddy fields are particularly high. Paddy fields receive and store heavy seasonal rains, which filter slowly through the soil to replenish groundwater supplies.
In this way they act as a dam, retaining large amounts of water which otherwise might cause flooding. Detailed measurements of run-off and the water balance have showed how greatly paddy fields in Japan contribute to water buffering and flood prevention. In a number of areas, the incidence of flooding has increased as fields have been converted to residential use.
Paddy fields also purify water of excess nitrogen and phosphate brought in by water which has been polluted upstream. Instead of contaminating water supplies, these nutrients serve as a nutrient source for rice plants.
There are several ways of estimating the monetary value of agricultural land in terms of its conservation function. The replacement cost method is often used. This estimates what it would cost to provide the same benefits on the open market: for example, what it would cost to build dams which prevent floods in the way paddy fields are doing at present. Detailed studies have been carried out in both Japan and Korea. In both countries, the monetary value of the externalities of rice farming are even higher than the value of the rice itself.
In other words, paddy fields are as economically important for their conservation effect as for the rice they produce. This is not taken into account by the market system, which pays farmers only for the rice they produce.
Nutrient Recycling
Importing food means that there is a great distance between the place where food is produced, and the place where it is consumed. This makes it impossible to recycle resources. Ideally, nutrients in the agricultural system should be recycled, as they are in a healthy natural ecosystem.
During the past decade, as part of the movement towards sustainable agriculture, thousands of recycling schemes have been set up in the Asian and Pacific region. Some of these are large-scale, like the use of liquid livestock manure to fertilize organic rice farms in Korea (see article on page 7). Some are on a smaller scale, such as the initiative set up in Tsuruoka City in Japan. This collects leftovers from school lunches and feeds them to pigs. In turn, the meat of the pigs is used for school lunches.
Recycling of resources is possible only on a regional or local scale, be cause of transportation costs. If we wish to see sustainable agriculture in Asia, our efforts should be to integrate production and consumption. We must work to develop recycling systems between urban and rural areas, and between crop and livestock farms. To do this, we cannot depend too much on food grown on the other side of the world.
Index of Images
Figure 1 Rice Fields in Asia. Rice Paddies Store Seasonal Rains and Prevent Floods
Figure 2 Flooded Landscape. Floods Increase When Rice Paddies Are Used for Houses or Roads.
