A Global Interpretation of the Rise of the East Asian Food Import Complex

Prelims – Food Regimes and Agrarian Questions

This chapter addresses the world historical conditions underlying the present crisis of the global agrifood system and its contributions to the combined climate and biodiversity emergency. It is framed through the lens of a succession of international food regimes, from the mid-19th century to the present day, focusing on key food complexes such as wheat, animal protein, and processed foods. It traces how these have evolved through three distinctive world food orders, as industrial agriculture has strengthened its grip on diets, species, and planetary health, intensifying processes of enclosure, human displacement, and corporate monopolization via financialization and digitalization. The remainder of the chapter looks at the 2007–08 world “food crisis” in a long-standing global agrarian crisis (of public support and cheap food dumping in Southern markets), conversion of food crops to fuel crops, and rising land acquisitions for speculation and/or profit as a context for ongoing recognition and development of highly plausible alternatives.

Political economy of the global food and agriculture system

Consumption of livestock products in Southeast Asia could continue to increase rapidly, as has been the case in Northeast Asia. The extent to which domestic producers may respond to these demand developments will be influenced by government interventions in both livestock product and feeds markets. The paper analyses the net contribution of livestock product and feed price distortions on the effective rate of protection, and whether intervention in the commodity market is augmented or offset by intervention in the feeds market. While policy-induced distortions were found to exist in the livestock sectors of Thailand and Malaysia, especially in beef and dairy production, the contribution of feeds policies to these distortions was minimal. In contrast implicit taxes on feeds were high in Indonesia and the Philippines. In the latter, support on product prices was sufficient to more than offset the tax on feeds so that effective protection remained positive. But in Indonesia both livestock and feeds policies worked to provide disincentives to livestock production. It is concluded that livestock and feeds policies should be formulated with regard to objectives and priorities within both sectors. This could require that greater emphasis be placed on feeds sector assistance policies that do not affect the price of feeds.

A.N. Rae

Papers

Structural change in east Asian agriculture.