ASIA-Food safety at risk in Central Asia

Almaty (Agenzia Fides) - Food safety is at risk in Central Asian countries: while governments in former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan seek to stabilize the nations political and economic situation, out of a population of 62 million inhabitants, more than 5 million fail to meet their food needs and do not enjoy full food security. The concept of "food security", coined by the United Nations, indicates the certainty of obtaining the food necessary to cover the daily minimum food a person needs.
According to a study published in the North Kazakhstan State University, and received by Fides, although the general conditions of society in Central Asia have improved since the post-Soviet era, the problem of food shortage continues to affect large segments of the population, particularly affected by inflation and shortages of resources useful to generate wealth.
The situation, the report says, is particularly delicate in Tajikistan, which is still recovering after a civil war, and in Kyrgyzstan, where the situation is still suffering from political and social instability, after the riots of 2005 and 2010. These are the poorest countries, according to international standards: 30% of Tajik citizens and 27% of Kyrgyz suffer from food insecurity.
According to FAO, the two republics are today still far from achieving the minimum result to ensure basic nutrition for the whole population. In 2010, FAO and the World Food Programme (WFP) indicated Tajikistan as one of the 22 countries that suffer from a "sustainable food security crisis": this means that the nation has been suffering from food shortages for at least 8 years and over 10% of foreign aid is represented by humanitarian aid.
According to the study of the University of Kazakhstan, the necessary measures to contrast this phenomenon are: to control inflation, moderate prices, introduce new resources and new technologies in agriculture, introducing new legal means to help the agricultural sector, which remains essential for the survival of most part of the population in the Central Asian republics. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 18/05/2011)