FBA Issue 34: September / October 2010
Understanding Asian agribusiness
What are the challenges facing the Asian agribusiness?
There are many issues in the industry - diseases, raw material uncertainty and changes in consumers' habits. Factors which contribute to raw material uncertainty include natural disasters and overdevelopment, which leads to a decrease in cultivated land.
Meanwhile, shifts in consumer habits and perceptions mean that there is a greater demand for organic or safe food. The public concerns about tainted meat mean greater pressure for producers to produce safe meat. When it comes to safer meat or food, all these will have implications on cost.
What are the best solutions to these issues?
Disease management has to be improved. Farmers' knowledge must be further advanced in this field. Next, with regards to the lack of raw materials, there is a need to search for alternatives. Also, producers need to look at growing chicks more efficiently.
On the part of consumers, they must understand that more must be paid for higher quality meat. On the producers' part, when it comes to reconciling the cost versus quality dilemma, they could actually minimise cost by investing in better management and QC systems for long-term prospects.
How have bans on AGP bans impacted the way poultry is raised?
Enclosed houses are becoming more popular even in Asia. The system offers better farm management on disease control and better performance, due to our hot and humid conditions. Without AGPs, supplements need to be used in combination to achieve the benefits of antibiotics.
We also need to consider Asia's hot and humid climate, which makes it difficult to just follow the EU way totally. This is true during the rainy seasons, when livestock is especially prone to diseases. Hence, there is still a place for AGPs in Asia.
Where do you expect to see changes in how poultry is raised?
I would expect to see China undergoing many changes. There are more regulations introduced amid the country's food safety issues and there is a critical need to produce "high confidence meat."
Also, there is likely to be extensive modernisation of farms in the Indian subcontinent along with the region's rise in poultry production.
How will Asian agribusiness impact world markets?
I see a great future ahead. Demand for meat is growing in Asian countries, especially in the Indian Subcontinent and Indonesia. China is currently the world's second largest feed producer and in 3-5 years' time, I predict that its output will surpass that of the US. Asia's growth also means that there will be a higher demand for grains, making the stable supply of raw materials a more pressing issue.
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