KUALA LUMPUR INITIATIVE TO ADDRESS FOOD SECURITY IN D-8 COUNTRIES
D-8's Response on the Challenges of Food Security
1. Faced by the challenges of the global food crisis, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, H.E. Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi led a special retreat during the Sixth Summit of D-8 in Kuala Lumpur; 4lh -8th July 2008, and proposed to convene a D-8 Ministerial Meeting on Food Security. The Meeting agreed that Malaysia as the current chair of D-8 will host this Meeting. Subsequently, it was decided that the Meeting shall be held in February 2009 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
2. In addressing the current situation of soaring food and agricultural input prices, the Kuala Lumpur Declaration 2008 adopted during the Sixth D-8 ¬Summit identified three priority projects to be implemented among, D-8 countries. The three projects are:
the production and supply of quality fertilizers;
the production and supply of quality--animal feed; and I
the creation of seed banks to supply quality seeds.
3. The Meeting of the D-8 Ministers of Agriculture on Food Security, held from 25th 27th February 2009 in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia acknowledges the importance of food security to D-8 economies and reaffirm their commitment to enhance collaborative efforts to increase food production and ensure food security. The Kuala Lumpur Initiative is endorsed for implementation by all D-8 countries to address food security.
4. This Kuala Lumpur Initiative will provide a pragmatic approach to determine the scope of cooperation amongst the Governments of D-8 countries in partnership with the private sector to ensure the availability of quality seeds, animal feeds and fertilizers. While the role of Governments is important to support and facilitate the implementation of cooperation projects, it is expected that the private sector of all D-8 countries will be key players in determining the success and implementation of the projects identified.
Priority Area 1: The production, supply and distribution of quality fertilizers
5. Fertilizers, both chemical and organic, can improve crop productivity as well as production. However, sustainable usage and the increasing costs of fertilizers continue to be major challenges faced by farmers, particularly poor farmers who do not have access to quality fertilizers. The supply of fertilizers in a conducive and transparent market environment will assist farmers in D-8 countries to source for fertilizers at competitive prices with assured sources of supply.
6. The Meeting agreed on the following:
Encourage initiatives especially among the private sectors of D-8 countries to create joint ventures in the establishment of fertilizer plants and to make available supply of the fertilizers to all D-8 countries at competitive prices.
Establish joint research & technological collaboration in production and supply of fertilizers to manufacture customized organic and non-organic fertilizers.
Strengthen capacity building and promote closer collaboration to accelerate transfer and adoption of new technologies in production and crop improvement.
Harmonization of standards in the production of quality fertilizers.
Priority Area 2: The production and supply of quality animal feed
7. The growth in world population and increased affluence especially in developing countries have resulted in dietary changes and increase in demand for animal and feed production. In addition to that, current developments which resulted in higher demand for bio-fuel derived from commodities such as corn has resulted in price hikes of these commodities.
8. The Meeting agreed on the following:
Establish a D-8 corporation to carry out R&D activities of strategic commodities in D-8 member countries.
Create a centralized information sharing mechanism to facilitate systematic information collection and sharing.
Foster greater utilisation of credit facilities for food production and supply provided by international financial and lending institutions such as Islamic Development Bank (lDB).
Facilitate trade through the harmonization of standards among D-8 countries based on international standards.
Implement capacity building programmes through a centralized information centre. .
Encourage the utilization of non-food crops for bio-fuel production.
Priority Area 3: The creation of seed banks to supply high quality seeds
9. Seed banks are important for maintaining the diversity of plant genetic resources. Land degradation, urban expansion, climate change and deforestation have resulted in the loss of fertile agricultural land and plant diversity thus increasing the risk of extinction for many plant species. Loss of wild crop relatives threatens food production because they contain genes for traits such as pest resistance and drought tolerance, which plant breeders can use to improve the performance of cultivated varieties. Among D-8 countries the diversity of plant genetic resources is immense. A coordinated and joint approach in creating seed banks in D-8 countries will bring many benefits to all countries and ensure useful plant resources can be shared for R&D so that quality seeds can be produced.
10. The Meeting agreed on the following:
Establish modalities for downstream seed production through the establishment of National Seed Banks and a D-8 Umbrella Seed Bank.
Create collaborative research and development programmes between private and public sector organisations.
Standardise and harmonise seed certification and quality enforcement procedures among D-8 countries.
11. The Ministers agree that D-8 trade fertilisers, animal feed and seeds will increase with the entry into force of the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) and look forward to its early ratification by all D-8 Countries.
12. The Meeting also acknowledge the importance of information gathering among D-8 countries and agree on the establishment of a market information service system in D-8 countries be initiated on animal feed, seed banks and fertilizers. The D-8 Ministers agreed that it is important to address the issues of standards and trade issues separately as it encompass all the three subject matters.
13. The meeting agreed to appoint prime movers to implement the initiatives as follows:
Seed bank : Turkey & Iran
Animal Feed : Malaysia & Indonesia
Fertilizers : Egypt
Standards & Trade Issues : Iran & Turkey
Marine and Fisheries : Indonesia
14. The prime movers shall convene the first workshop within six months to
discuss detailed implementation issues and the D-8 secretariat will do the coordination.
15. While endorsing the Kuala Lumpur Initiative, the Meeting direct the Secretariat to assist coordination of actions identified in the Kuala Lumpur Initiative. The Secretariat is also directed to coordinate a Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) in agriculture be convened within a year to monitor progress of the Kuala Lumpur Initiative.
16. It is expected that the successful implementation of this Kuala Lumpur Initiative will increase food production and strengthen food security in D-8 countries. The clear strategies identified under this Initiative will facilitate international financial and funding institutions to finance the projects under this Initiative.
Done at
Kuala Lumpur on 27th February 2009
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