Food Security Policies of Six Asian Countries

Report No. 190.Per capita cereal consumption in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Republic of Korea, the Philippines, and Taiwan generally varied less from trend than did per capita production from the late sixties to 1980.This tendency, especially true in the poorer countries, reflects the effectiveness of food security policies implemented throughout the period.However, the stability of per capita consumption varied considerably among the countries.Production technology and in most cases producers' incentives improved, and new or enlarged government stocks have resulted.At the end of the aeventies, however, only India was self sufficient in cereals, and only half the countries studied had increased their rice self-sufficiency.The six countries together imported $1.051 billion worth of U.S. wheat and wheat flour in 1981 and $1.077 billion worth in 1982.