1st Edition
Regional Cooperation for Sustainable Food Security in South Asia
This volume foregrounds the importance of regional cooperation in the context of food security challenges in South Asia. South Asia holds the key to global achievement of SDG targets of ending hunger and malnutrition – it accounts for nearly one-third of food-insecure people on the planet, with every third child suffering from stunting due to malnutrition. Similar food preferences, production systems, and the transboundary nature of agrarian ecosystems call for coordinated action by South Asian countries, complementing national actions dealing with food security challenges.
In this volume, leading experts discuss the perspectives of key South Asian countries in leveraging regional cooperation for addressing food security challenges and reflect on the potential of cooperative actions in different areas. The book proposes a ten-point regional policy agenda covering cooperation for combatting climate change, regional trade liberalization, operationalization of regional food reserves, leveraging technology, sharing of good practices, regional institution building, coordinated positions in multilateral trade negotiations, addressing trans-boundary outbreak of livestock diseases, strengthening food safety standards, and the management of shared natural resources.
A key volume on accomplishing SDGs in the South Asian context, this book will be of immense interest to policy makers, researchers, and development practitioners. It is also essential reading for scholars and researchers in the areas of development studies, South Asia studies, food security, environment and sustainability.
1 Regional cooperation for sustainable food security in South Asia: an overview and policy lessons
Nagesh Kumar and Joseph George
PART I Regional perspectives on food security
2 Realizing sustainable food security in South Asia: progress, challenges and opportunities
Upali Wickramasinghe
3 Potential for intraregional trade in food products in South Asia
Indra Nath Mukherji
4 Agricultural trade in South Asia: issues, challenges and the way forward
Sachin Chaturvedi
5 SAARC Food Bank: raising operational efficacy
Mustafizur Rahman, Estiaque Bari and Sherajum Monira Farin
PART II National food security strategies: leveraging regional cooperation
6 Ensuring food security in Bangladesh: issues beyond production and challenges ahead
Mustafizur Rahman and Towfiqul Islam Khan
7 India’s national food security strategies and potential for regional cooperation
S. Mahendra Dev
8 State of food security in Nepal: addressing concerns of productivity and climate change
Posh Raj Pandey
9 National food security challenges and strategies in Pakistan: cooperation for technology and trade
Abid Qaiyum Suleri and Mehreen Iqbal
10 Food security policy framework in Sri Lanka: market reforms, diversifi cation and safety nets
Saman Kelegama and Dilani Hirimuthugodage
Biography
Nagesh Kumar is Director and Head of the South and South-West Asia Office, New Delhi, of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). He has previously served as the UNESCAP Chief Economist and Director, Macroeconomic Policy and Development Division, and Director of Social Development Division at UNESCAP headquarters in Bangkok.
Joseph George is a trade and development analyst with ten years of experience in the field of regional economic integration in South Asia. Currently serving as a Research Associate at the South and South-West Asia Office of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), he provides research support for implementation of UNESCAP’s programmes on regional cooperation for sustainable development in the South Asian region.