Faltering fisheries and ascendant aquaculture: Implications for food and nutrition security in Bangladesh

Bangladesh has made considerable progress against human development indicators in recent years, but malnutrition resulting from poor dietary diversity and low micronutrient intakes remains entrenched. Fish is central to the Bangladeshi diet and small fish species are an important micronutrient source. Although fish consumption per capita has increased in recent years as a result of rapid expansion of aquaculture, it is likely that consumption of fish from capture fisheries (including small indigenous species particularly rich in micronutrients), has declined. This paper evaluates data on fish consumption collected in Bangladesh by the International Food Policy Research Institute in 1996/7 and 2006/7 to assess changing patterns of fish consumption and their implications for food and nutrition security. This analysis indicates that growth of aquaculture has been positive, mitigating a sharp reduction in the quantity of fish consumed from capture fisheries and smoothing out seasonal variability in consumption. However, increased availability of fish from aquaculture may not have fully compensated for the loss of fish from capture fisheries in terms of dietary diversity, micronutrient intakes and food and nutrition security, particularly for the poorest consumers. A range of approaches are recommended to sustain and enhance the contributions capture fisheries and aquaculture make to food and nutrition security in Bangladesh     

Policies and practices for aquaculture food safety in China

There are growing concerns over the safety of aquaculture food products from China, which supplies 70% of the world’s farmed fish food. We present a comprehensive literature review, supplemented with qualitative data obtained from interviews with experts in the field, to examine the policies and practices designed to ensure the safety of food produced by the Chinese aquaculture industry. The food safety system has many parts that are administered by different governmental organizations with poor coordination among them. The system apparently operates as two entities: one for products destined for the export market and based largely on the requirements of importing countries, and the other with lower standards and levels of enforcement for domestic market products. The top-down approach focuses more on the end product rather than the production practices. There are several indications that regulations pertaining to antibiotic use are not being followed. Recent events have brought the issue of overall food safety to the attention of the Chinese public and the Government is acting positively towards addressing deficiencies of the system. Chief among these is the Food Safety Law which comes into effect in June, 2009. But the central government must work in concert with provincial and local authorities to improve the infrastructure for inspecting and tracking food from farms to the end consumers to ensure a greater degree of safety of aquatic food for the Chinese population.     

Change and diversity in smallholder rice–fish systems: Recent evidence and policy lessons from Bangladesh

Efforts to unlock the genetic potential of both rice and fish, when combined with improvements in the management of rice–fish systems, can potentially increase agricultural productivity and food security in some of the poorest and most populous countries in Asia. In Bangladesh, estimates suggest that the country’s potential rice–fish production system encompasses 2–3 million hectares of land. But despite three decades of research on biophysical and technical aspects of rice–fish systems, this potential has not been fully realized due to insufficient attention given to the social, economic, and policy dimensions of rice–fish system improvement. This paper provides a characterization of the diverse and changing nature of rice–fish systems in Bangladesh to shed new light on the economic viability of different rice–fish systems and recommend policy and investment options to accelerate the development of appropriate rice–fish technologies. Data are drawn from a novel subdistrict-level survey of fishery officers, a household/enterprise survey, focus group discussions, and a meta-review of the literature on aquaculture in the country, all of which were conducted in 2010–2011. Findings indicate that concurrent rice–fish systems, alternating rice–fish systems, and collectively managed systems offer considerable potential for increasing productivity and farm incomes in Bangladesh. Findings also suggest that while innovation in these rice–fish systems is being driven by households and communities, there is need for more supportive government policies and investments to enable further innovation. Policymakers need to develop effective regulations to promote feed and fish quality and quantity, for example. More rigorous analysis of the intended and unintended impacts of these policies and investments is also necessary.     

International trade related food miles – The case of Canada

At the beginning of the 21st century imports of agricultural and food commodities have become a major part of many nations’ food baskets. Indeed the global food system has several merits for nations, businesses and individual consumers’ well-being. However, as increasing evidence suggests that we are approaching an era of climate change and scarcity of cheap energy sources the sustainability of that system must be examined. One part of any food commodity chain is its ‘food miles’ – the distance the commodity travels from point of production to point of consumption, the required energy and resulting emissions. This paper presents a 1 year ‘snapshot’ of Canada’s total import related food miles. It presents an analysis of the distance imported foods traveled from around the world to major points of consumption in Canada and documents the equivalent carbon dioxide emissions related to those imports. It presents both a macro scale picture of the equivalent emissions related to transportation of imported food and a micro scale picture which focuses on specific commodities consumed in various parts of the country. It then discusses policy implications for food sustainability. Overall the research highlights that about 30% of the agricultural and food commodities consumed in Canada are imported, resulting in ‘food miles’ of over 61 billion tonnes km, leading to annual emissions of 3.3 million metric tonnes of CO₂. Of the various agriculture and food commodities studied, fruits and vegetables had the highest food miles related emissions.     

Improving developing country food security through aquaculture development—lessons from Asia

This paper provides a framework for examining aquaculture’s linkages to food and nutritional security by elucidating key hypotheses concerning the role of aquaculture in household food and income systems in developing countries. Taking examples from developing Asia, where aquaculture showed a steady growth over the last decade, the implications of aquaculture development are examined from the standpoint of its impact on employment, income and consumption. Analysis revealed clear evidence of positive income and consumption effects of aquaculture on households. However, employment effects are still not significant. The context of targeting small-scale and subsistence-oriented farmers as a means of improving food security in the developing countries has also been analyzed by identifying key socio-economic and policy factors affecting aquaculture adoption and its impact on the poor. The paper concludes that national policies for aquaculture development will need to concurrently address the food security and poverty questions more sharply than has been done at present, by providing institutional and infrastructure support for access to resources such as land and water and to markets by poor households. Finally, more empirical evidence should be collected on the varied opportunities aquaculture would provide to improve the income, employment and food consumption levels within households.     

African aquaculture: Realizing the potential

Despite 40 years of research and development, and hundreds of millions of dollars spent, aquaculture is struggling to realize its high biophysical potential in Africa. Hampered by ineffective institutional arrangements and donor-driven projects, the substantial gains in desperately needed food security and economic growth predicted by development agencies have generally not been achieved. Nevertheless, African aquaculture has demonstrated its competitiveness, producing fishes that feed low on the food chain in a range of well-adapted, environmentally friendly and profitable farming systems that meet the needs of a broad spectrum of user-groups. Key constraints to broader growth include lack of good quality seed, feed and technical advice; poor market infrastructure and access; and weak policies that, rather than accelerate, impede expansion, largely by emphasizing central planning over private sector initiative. If African aquaculture is to make substantial and much needed contributions to the continent’s development, government policy should attempt to facilitate the alleviation of key constraints and rely more heavily on commercial investments to lead future growth. Evidence to date indicates that a pragmatic business approach focusing on small and medium-scale private enterprises would produce more benefits for more people than centrally planned and government led development projects.     

Asian development and poverty reduction strategies: Integrating fisheries into the development discourse

Asia is the world’s foremost capture fishery and aquaculture producer. It is also home to the majority of the world’s fishers and marine fleet (decked and undecked). Consequently, there is every reason to expect that this importance is reflected in national development discourses. This article identifies the socio-economic importance of fisheries in the region in terms of its contribution to primary exports, domestic protein consumption, employment and poverty alleviation. We then analyse national development and poverty reduction strategy documents using a content analysis methodology previously applied to measure the extent to which environmental or forestry issues had been mainstreamed into national policy documents. This enables us to identify those countries that have currently integrated fisheries into the national development discourse – and those that have not. We conclude by proposing two strategies to enable the more effective integration of fisheries into the development agenda.     

Farming fish for profits: A small step towards food security in sub-Saharan Africa

In addition to volatile fluctuations due to seasonal or regional factors, food security has two main components; access and availability. This paper presents a diagrammatical model to indicate how aquaculture, particularly private sector aquaculture, can contribute to these components of food security in sub-Sahara Africa. Food accessibility is increased when commercial aquaculture generates employment. Without such employment the poor might never translate their need for food into effective demand. Food availability is increased, either immediately when aquaculture output is sold in the domestic market, or later when the foreign exchange earned from aquaculture exports is used to import food.     

乙二醇生产消费现状及发展前景

20世纪90年代以来，由于世界聚酯产品市场消费的急剧增长，世界乙二醇的生产发展迅速。亚洲是世界乙二醇的主要消费地区和贸易区，其消费量占世界乙二醇总消费量的50％以上，但该地区的产量却不能满足实际生产的需要。文章分析了国内外乙二醇供需状况，对需求结构和改扩建形势作了详细介绍，预测了我国乙二醇工业发展前景，并提出了一些发展建议，为我国乙二醇工业今后的发展方向提供了参考。     

Towards a strategy for fish farming in the UK

The UK's fish farming industry, though not yet making a significant contribution to the national food supply, appears to be developing towards an annual production level of about 20 000 tonnes by the mid 1980s. The author discusses the prospects and constraints for the different farmed species, legal and organizational problems, the market, and research and development activities. The role of the industry in creating new wealth and widening consumer choice is stressed.     

Cash transfers and high food prices: Explaining outcomes on Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme

An ongoing and highly politicised debate concerns the relative efficacy of cash transfers versus food aid. This paper aims to shed light on this debate, drawing on new empirical evidence from Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP). Our data derive from a two-wave panel survey conducted in 2006 and 2008. Ethiopia has experienced unprecedented rates of inflation since 2007, which have reduced the real purchasing power of PSNP cash payments. Our regression findings confirm that food transfers or ‘cash plus food’ packages are superior to cash transfers alone – they enable higher levels of income growth, livestock accumulation and self-reported food security. These results raise questions of fundamental importance to global humanitarian response and social protection policy. We draw out some implications for the design of social transfer programmes and describe some steps that could be taken to enable ‘predictable transfers to meet predictable needs’.     

Refined soya protein

UniMills Ltd, manufacturer of refined vegetable-proteins, is a member of Unilever's Oil Milling Division, which has six oil-seed extraction plants spread between the UK, the Netherlands and West Germany. The group purchases over 6 million tonnes of soyabeans each year and is Europe's largest processor.     

A rotten deal for schools? An assessment of states’ success with the National School Lunch Program’s in-kind food benefit

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is one of the United States’ largest domestic food aid programs. The NSLP provides states with both cash and commodity foods for school meals. This research assessed the success of the school commodity program by comparing states’ available annual funding to the value of foods that states actually received from 2001 to 2009. Results indicate that an in-kind food funding system is not desirable for schools; states failed to receive entitled commodity food value in most years, resulting in annual funding losses for schools of $35–87 million. Inconsistent funding inhibits schools’ ability to improve meals and, ultimately, child nutrition outcomes. In light of these results, it is recommended that a cash benefit should replace the National School Lunch Program’s commodity food program.     

An economic analysis of the impacts of trade liberalization on Asian dairy market

This paper develops an economic analysis of the impacts of further trade liberalization scenarios on Asian dairy markets, using a world dairy model incorporating both vertical and spatial characteristics of the world dairy sector. Japan and Korea’ producers will suffer much bigger losses from trade liberalization than other countries in the region; Japan and Korea’s producers get much more protection from trade distortions than from domestic subsidy. India is a potential competitive exporter if Asia is liberalized. China and India are potential competitive exporters under global free trade. South East Asia and other South Asian countries remain importers under free trade. Greater trade liberalization around the world increases exports for potential exporters and/or ease importing pressure for potential importers. The increasing order of competitiveness of Asian dairy economies sectors is found to be Japan, Korea, South East Asia, other South Asia, China and India. China and India consumers would lose from world trade liberalization, but the other countries’ consumer surplus will increase.     

The political ideology of food

Using data from a survey of over 700 Americans, we sought to measure and investigate the nature of citizen’s political ideologies in relation to food. Results reveal that a majority of respondents can be classified as “food statists,” desiring more government action in the realm food and agricultural relative to the status quo. People’s ideologies with regard to food were multidimensional, falling along lines related to food health and quality, food safety, and farm subsidies. Respondents were most in favor of additional government action related to food safety. Food ideology was related to conventional measures of political ideology with, for example, more liberal respondents desiring more government involvement in food than more conservative respondents, but the relationship was far from determinative, suggesting food ideology represents a unique construct in its own right.     

中国航空煤油市场现状分析与趋势预测

近年来,中国航空煤油产量平稳增长,由2000年的630万吨上升到2008年的1103万吨,年均增幅7.2%,占煤油产量的比例从2000年的73.9%上升到2008年的95.2%;消费量由2000年的460万吨上升到2008年的1276万吨,年均增幅13.5%。但是,国内航空煤油的产能未充分发挥,民航用煤油却有约40%依靠进口。究其原因,除了受国内航空煤油供销模式和亚太市场供应过剩等影响之外,国内航空煤油调价滞后和调价不到位,以及航空煤油价格与柴油的比价不合理,导致企业生产积极性较低也是重要的影响因素。预计2010、2015和2020年国内航空煤油需求量约为1600万吨、2800万吨和4000万吨,产能将分别达到2200万吨、3200万吨和4000万吨,基本能够满足国内需求。随着国内成品油价格体系的不断完善,国家将逐步放开对航空煤油价格的控制,国内航空煤油价格将与国际市场接轨,与柴油价格形成合理的比价关系。     

Consumer knowledge and use of information about fish and aquaculture

This paper explores consumers’ knowledge about fish and aquaculture and assesses the use and importance of different information cues about fish. Cross-sectional data were collected in 2008 through a consumer survey (n = 3213) in the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Sweden and the UK. Consumers’ knowledge about fish generally, and about aquaculture in particular, was relatively low and differed significantly between countries. Consumers from all countries reported an indication of quality and/or food safety as an information cue when buying fish. The information sources most frequently used by Europeans were labelling and sellers in retail or supermarkets. The Internet was identified by consumers in all of the countries as one of the most important sources of information about sea and freshwater fish products. Policy makers and food marketers are encouraged to develop a simple and easily recognisable mark (relating to quality, food safety and nutrition) to assist consumer decision-making. Information campaigns focusing on issues such as the nutritional benefits of eating fish are also recommended.     

乙烯供需状况及发展对策

2000年全球共有乙烯装置230套，生产能力为92．7Mt/a，装置的平均规模为400kt/a，其中北美占33．77％，西欧占22．38％，亚洲为31．23％。亚洲是20世纪90年代全球乙烯生产能力增长最快的地区。我国在20世纪80年代后，乙烯发展速度加快，2000年乙烯生产能力已达5000 kt/a，但我国乙烯工业中尚存在着：装置规模小、生产成本高，布局不合理，原料资源结构不合理，综合能耗高等问题，需进一步解决。     

Guest Editors' Introduction to Special Issue. Turnaround in Asia: Laying the Foundation for Understanding this Unique Domain

Turnaround is a subject that is receiving increasing attention from researchers, managers and consultants. However, the subject has received minimal examination in Asia, with studies usually focusing more on the external environment or macroeconomic issues and less on the management of Asian firms themselves. This lack of examination has persisted despite the Asian economic crisis of the late 1990s, which pushed many firms into significant decline. Thus, this special issue will provide a baseline for examining this topic more closely. This introduction presents ten papers of this special issue of the Asia Pacific Journal of Management on firm turnaround in Asia. This paper also suggests key research questions for future examinations of the topic of firm turnaround in and around Asia.     

Prospects for food demand and supply in Central Asia

Central Asia has experienced massive economic and social shocks during the past decade following the dissolution of the former Soviet Union. Demand for cereals, particularly for staple cereals and meats, has fallen significantly even as production and productivity have plummeted. Although agricultural reforms were launched in 1991, the performance of the agricultural sector has been weak across the region. Prospects for food security in Central Asia appear mixed. Projections indicate that a growing and urbanizing population in Central Asia with rising incomes will increase demand for cereals by 32% between 1995 and 2020 to reach 24 million tons, and for meat by 47% to reach 2.9 million tons. Improvements in crop productivity will be essential to meet the increases in demand projected for the region. Cereal production is forecast to keep pace with demand such that Central Asia will be virtually self-sufficient in cereals. However, national food self-sufficiency or food security does not necessarily translate into household or individual food security. Moreover, self-sufficiency comes with a high price-tag of opportunities foregone and inappropriate use made of resources. Given the growing enthusiasm for food self-sufficiency in Central Asia, it is imperative that research be undertaken to assess the full costs and benefits of such a policy.