Developing countries' meeting recommend non-usage of human food for animal feed

A recommendation from agricultural ministers from eight developing countries (D-8) has been agreed in a meeting held in Senggigi, West Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, on Friday (Oct 5) that developed countries should not excessively use human food for animal feed or other non-human consumption purposes.

"We ask developed countries not to produce animal feed or other non-human food products out of human food," Indonesian Agricultural Minister Suswono told reporters after he officially opened the meeting in Senggigi on Friday (Oct 5).

Suswono said that the foodcrisis had not yet emerged but early anticipatory measures were urgent especially due to global warming and land conversion threats.

The meeting on Friday was preceded by a working group and related senior official meetings since Wednesday (Oct 3). Participating countries included Indonesia, Iran, Turkey, Malaysia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Egypt and Bangladesh. It was the third meeting held after the first was held in Malaysia in 2010 and in Iran in 2011.

Suswono said five strategic points were discussed in the meeting: trade and standardisation, marine affairs and fisheries, the D-8 agricultural information knowledge management network, food security and support for the private sector in investment programmes in the field of food security.

"We shared experiences in the food security field and gave each other input," he said, adding that there had been joint training programmes in the field of agriculture between Indonesia and Nigeria.

He also highlighted the role of the private sector in the implementation of the D-8 programmes as well as people''s awareness to support the programmes. "The government cannot just work on its own," he said.

Providing an example, he said that his ministry was currently implementing the so-called sustainable food house programme in which each household was encouraged to make use of its yard to plant crops.

Separately, the head of the regional division of the ministry''s overseas cooperation centre, Andy Jaya Dermawan, said that the D-8 meeting was divided into three different levels: working group, senior official and ministerial levels. Topics on the agenda ranged from animal feed, fertilisers, industries, fisheries and standardisation.