Chapter 5 Potential and Development Concepts Chapter 5 Potential and Development Concepts 5-1 Summary of Food Self-Sufficiency Rate and Food Security The World Food Summit in 1996 has defined food security as； “The situation where all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.” Since then several definitions have been put forward by different organizations but common to most definitions of food security are the elements of availability, access (physical and economic), utilization and stability or sustainability. Based on the definition above, the Bhutanese government has created the Food and Nutrition Security Policy of the Kingdom of Bhutan, 2010. (1) Food Availability As mentioned in Chapter 4, grain supply has increased in Bhutan along with growth in domestic products. Domestic self-sufficiency rate has increased from 40% in 1999 to 60% in 2008. Thanks to the increase in productivity, amongst all grain demands1, supply of rice also increased from 40% in 1999 to 60% in 2008. Domestic grown rice caters 50% of the country’s rice demands. Grain production cost is relatively high compared to other countries, which makes the agricultural production less competitive economically. The comparative production costs for 1 Mt of rice, maize and potato are shown in the graph, as these are the Bhutanese stable foods. The production costs are higher than its neighboring countries. Especially important, the production cost gap for rice is widening every year. 1 As explained in Chapter 2: Trend of Food Consumption and Distribution, the published self-sufficiency rate in Bhutan is inconsistent between publications and government documents. This is because the Department of Custom does not have standard calculation methods such as an 8 digits based HS code, and thus different methods for the calculations are employed by each concerned personnel. This report uses a self-sufficiency rate for grain products as 60% (rice 50%), stockbreeding products (meats and daily products) as 70% and vegetable products as 60%, except as discussions in Chapter 2. 5-1 Source: FAO STAT Fig. 5-1 Comparizon of Production Cost for Major Grains In addition to high production costs, Bhutanese agricultural production has low yield per digit of land. Graphs below compare yields of main grain production in Bhutan with its neighboring countries. It is clear that the grain yields compared to other countries are low in Bhutan. As mentioned in Chapter 4, availability of the land and cultivation methods are the main factors for this discrepancy. Considering 30% of the whole production is lost against wildlife and 20-40% is lost in post-harvest, improvements in yields are certainly possible. Source: FAO STAT Fig. 5-2 Comparizon of Yeild for Major Grains As mentioned in Chapter 2, domestic supply for milk, butter, cheese and eggs is possible in recent years. Although demands for sources of protein such as beef, pork, chicken and fish have increased rapidly in recent years, these items have less than 30% self-sufficiency rates, and thus domestic supply cannot meet the demand. In 2008, an influence of bird flu outbreak, strict enforcement of quarantines, a hike of food and fuel, and a financial crisis decreased demands of protein. As a result, domestic self-sufficiency 5-2 rates for each product increased nominally. As for vegetables, about 90% of total demand could be supplied by the increase of domestic production in 2010; however 60% of cauliflower and 40% of cabbage are still imported. The Food Cooperation of Bhutan (FCB) manages food items (rice, oil and sugar) through the National Food Security Reserves (NFSR). The NFSR is distributed to the FCB’s deposit facilities which are placed in 20 Dzongkhags, where products are sold and 1,700 tons of food items are stored. Apart from NFSR, FCB manages two separate food security reserves, those are; SAAC Food Security Reserves which has storage capacity of up to 200 tons and the SAARC Food bank. Some regions store food items in storage facilities at the community level, while food items are also stored in traditional methods at the household level. (2) Food Accessibility Food access is ensured when households and all individuals within those households have adequate resources to obtain appropriate foods for a nutritious diet. Access to adequate food depends upon income available to household and food prices. It also depends on land holding patterns, income distribution and employment opportunities. Access to food may also depend on infrastructures, transport, connectivity and food policy adopted by the government. It is therefore said that food insecurity is more of distribution issue than a production problem. Food insecurity has its root to poverty that leads to poor health, low productivity, low income, food shortage and hunger. Domestic products in Bhutan are sold in various kinds of markets. As mentioned in the marketing section in Chapter 4, main domestic product sold the most is horticultural products. Although breakdown of the products is apple 70%, orange 63%, and other fruits 30%, apple and orange products are mostly exported, and thus local markets provide more of peach, pear, plum, mango and bitter nuts. The next common item in market is meat products. These products are pork 59%, beef and yak 45%, chicken 48% and fish 47%. Common daily products sold are butter 56%, cheese 60%, hens' eggs 57% and milk 8%. The least products in the markets are the grain products where only 5% of rice and 1% of other products of its production are sold. 5-3 Table 5-1 Usage of Major Food Items Domestic Self Sales to Production Export (Mt) ％ consumption ％ domestic ％ (Mt) (Mt) market (Mt) Rice 49,204 376 1% 46,252 94% 2,576 5% Other cereals 50,727 7 0% 50,220 99% 500 1% Apple 17,367 7,061 41% 5,036 29% 5,270 30% Orange 52,629 22,484 43% 19,473 37% 10,672 20% Other fruits （Peach, Pear, 2,107 145 7% 1,475 70% 487 23% Mango, Plum, Bitter nuts） Potato 51,977 14,787 28% 8,061 16% 29,129 56% Chili 6,692 8 0% 6,631 99% 53 1% Vegetables 90,939 854 1% 67,809 75% 22,276 24% Beans 4,852 1,108 23% 3,407 70% 337 7% Egg('000pc) 1,993 0 0% 857 43% 1,136 57% Milk 15,645 0 0% 14,393 92% 1,252 8% Butter 1,262 0 0% 555 44% 707 56% Cheese 2,820 0 0% 1,128 40% 1,692 60% Pork 427 0 0% 175 41% 252 59% Beef 749 0 0% 412 55% 337 45% Chicken 257 0 0% 134 52% 123 48% Fish 23 0 0% 12 53% 11 47% Source）JICA Study Team, prepared from various sources The biggest obstacle for accessing food in Bhutan is geographical and infrastructural limitations. As a result, big gap is created between documented self-sufficiency rate and the actual food distribution rate despite the fact that domestic production is sufficient enough. The Bhutan government aims to providing income security for fruits, vegetable and domestic animals in order to support lack of domestic agricultural products. Also, the government provides income security for art, craft and tourism sectors for the stabilization of farmer’s income. Even mushrooms contribute increasing in income in farm levels to improve access to food. In urban centers, employment in government and/ or private sectors contributes income generation for the residents, which enables them to purchase more variety of food items. Food variation in Bhutan is achieved thanks to seasonal availability of wild food such as herbs, medical plants, mountain vegetables (mushrooms, bamboo shoot, asparagus, wild fruits, root crops and so forth). Mountain vegetables provide not only income for purchasing commodities but also reserves in case of inefficiency of food. (3) Food Utilization Food utilization is commonly understood as the nutritional status of an individual. It is also the proper biological use of food with sufficient energy and nutrient intake by individuals having good feeding practices, food preparation and dietary diversity. Effective food utilization also takes into account of the knowledge of food processing, storage, safety and health care. This aspect of food 5-4 security is given less importance since adequacy of food as calorie intake is taken guarantee of both food and nutrition security. The gap also exist because of that food utilization is having less to do with agriculture and food production in most developing countries. As mentioned in Chapter 2, nutrient intake factor among children under 5 years of age in Bhutan is greatly improved and thus, Ateliosis rate due to malnutrition has decreased from 56% in 1988 to 37% in 20082. This improvement is noticeable especially in the eastern region of the country. The main cause of the Ateliosis is due to lack of sufficient food intake for long periods of time and inappropriate care with food for new-born baby. Anemia due to malnutrition is the main cause of health issues which can see in 80% of baby between 6 to 60 months old. Also, the symptom can be seen in 55% women and 28% men3. It is advisable to create kitchen gardens in and/ or outside house to improve food variation, consume by them, and sell left-over to purchase more variation of food products for family members. In addition, it is necessary to bring change in food habits among citizens through promotion of kitchen garden and healthy food products. Iodine deficiency4 amplifies abnormal thyroid which was a great thread to the citizens’ health as it appeared to be more than 64% in early 1960s.