Workshop summary

摘要

Food security was defined at the 2009 World Food Summit in Rome as 'existing when all people at all times have physical and economic access to sufficient safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life'. Despite the recent economic development of several highly populated countries, including China and India, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that the number of undernourished people worldwide increased from 925 million in 2009 to 1.023 billion in 2010. This increasing demand for food led to the 'GFC or 'global food crisis' in 2009, with significant increases in prices of basic food commodities leading to panic buying and hoarding of food staples. Changes in dietary preferences, along with increasing demand, have led to consistent growth in the demand for red meat. Substantial price rises for cattle in Cambodia in 2011-12 suggest that regional demand in the Greater Mekong Subregion is currently outstripping the supply of large ruminants for human consumption.