* Assistant Director-General and FAO Representative for Asia and the Pacific, FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok, Thailand.It is a great pleasure and privilege for me to welcome you to the Expert Consultation on Crop Diversification in the Asia-Pacific Region. May I take this opportunity to extend to all of you warm greetings on behalf of the Director-General of FAO, my colleagues in the Regional Office and myself. Special thanks are due to you all for gathering here to contribute to this Consultation.
As you know crop production is the most important economic activity of the rural areas of the Region and it makes highest contribution to the domestic product of many countries as compared to other sectors. The crop sector also has strong linkages with other sectors of the economy like livestock, industry, trade and commerce, whose output is significantly influenced by the performance of the crop sector. Due to these factors, the growth rate of the crop sector is a major determinant of the growth rate of the overall economy of many countries.
Notwithstanding the highly satisfactory crop production growth rates during the past 30 years in the Region, in recent years growth rates have slowed and there is an urgent need for reversing the trend. It is recognized that the Asia-Pacific Region accounts for nearly 57 percent of the world's population, but has access to only one-third of the world's agricultural land. Water availability is fast declining, while there is widespread degradation of natural production resources. Therefore, the future strategy must be to produce more and more from not only the shrinking but also degrading resources.
Food and nutrition security, income growth, poverty alleviation, employment generation, judicious use of land, water and other resources, sustainable agricultural development, and environmental and ecological management/improvement have assumed high priority in the various countries of the Region. Crop diversification could be an effective strategy in this direction. Every effort, therefore, needs to be made by governments to explore fully the potential and prospects of crop diversification to forge the congruence of enhanced productivity, sustainability and profitability.
Crop diversification is an important instrument for economic growth. However, the ability of a country to diversify in order to attain various goals, will depend upon the opportunities for diversification and responsiveness of farmers to these opportunities. At the same time new problems, threats and challenges will have to be faced. Several of the commodity agreements, such as the International Natural Rubber Organization, have failed to the disadvantage of the majority of developing countries, even though rubber is an important commodity in the Region.
New opportunities that would benefit crop diversification are technological breakthroughs, changes in demand pattern, changes in government policy, development of irrigation and other infrastructure, development of new trade arrangements, and others. Similarly, challenges and threats necessitating crop diversification result from: a) market and price risks; b) risk associated with existing crop management practices; c) adverse changes like degradation of natural resources and the environment; and d) socio-economic needs like employment generation, attaining self-sufficiency in some crops and earning foreign exchange from others.
The case of the green revolution in India presents a good example of the effects (positive and negative) of technology induced crop diversification. This technology created opportunities for raising agricultural productivity through diversification in favour of high yielding period-bound cultivars of wheat and rice in areas endowed with reliable irrigation. In this way, green revolution technology resulted in spectacular growth in farm output, which enabled the country to attain food self-sufficiency. However, the green revolution technology has also led to substantial shifts in area in favour of rice and wheat and a high level of crop intensification which are said to be causing degradation of the ecology and natural resources like soil and water in various ways. For example, high crop intensity and intensive use of chemical fertilizers and irrigation are noted to be causing nitrate pollution, soil salinity and waterlogging; while burning of crop residues is contributing to air pollution. To face these challenges and problems there is an urgent need to diversify the cropping patterns.
Significant changes are taking place in domestic and international demand for crop products due to improvement in income and standard of living, fast urbanization, and changing life styles and preference patterns. Trade liberalization and development of transport infrastructure have opened new avenues of trade and have improved access to new and distant markets. This has created new opportunities for crop diversification, especially for enterprising and progressive farmers in the various countries.
Rice is the most important food crop in Asia and will remain so for many years to come. However, in marginal and upland areas of Asia, rice-based cropping systems have low returns. Shifting marginal areas out of rice into more profitable crops is seen as a solution. However, commodity-specific approaches are risky and, given the weak infrastructure and marketing base, may not achieve much for resource poor farmers in rainfed areas. Alternatively, flexible cropping systems for upland farmers that feature production of more income-elastic goods like horticultural products are a means of diversifying their income sources. Indeed, diversification away from rice to high-value crops such as fruits, vegetables and flowers has been successful in many countries of the Region, although quality and timely production are usually crucial to economic success with such high-value crops.
There is no doubt that significant progress has been made during the past few years in crop diversification in the Region. The level of success varies from country to country, but some success stories exist in every country. The fundamental principal of all successful diversification programmes is that they are driven by market demand. There is no point in diversifying into a crop for which market potential is limited. Governments can take several steps to reduce risks and improve marketing facilities through improved roads and communications, construction of wholesale markets, etc. Access by farmers, private traders and exporters to credit also needs to be improved. Dynamic policies on balance between food self-sufficiency and food self-reliance will be needed.
However, in spite of the significant progress in crop diversification much more remains to be done in this direction. There is a need and scope to further promote crop diversification on scientific lines and realize its untapped potential. FAO looks forward to the advice and guidance of the participants concerning appropriate strategies leading to the realization of this untapped potential.
