The Asian Development Bank plans to commit $40 billion to help food security, according to the Business Recorder. This pledge is an increase from its previous $14 billion pledge.
Remarking on this upgraded support, Masato Kanda, ADB's president, told the audience at the bank's eighth annual meeting in Milan: "Unprecedented droughts, floods, extreme heat, and degraded natural resources are undermining agricultural production while at the same time threatening food security and rural livelihoods."
The money will go toward planting biodiverse healthy food, job production, and better distribution practices in Asia. The initiative will also focus on how to mitigate local farming's environmental impact. For example, the Business Recorder reported that as much as 70% of Asia's water consumption goes toward food production and is responsible for 80% of lost biodiversity.
Biodiversity is essential to the food chain as it all starts with pollinators like bees, moths, and butterflies that forage for nectar and spread pollen and seeds across vegetation. They also need such vegetation for habitats to support other pollinators that keep the chain going. Some animals are herbivores that would die off without enough plant food sources, creating another chain effect in omnivores that hunt them.
Among the degraded natural resources Kanda was referring to are freshwater sources. According to the Borgen Project, as much as 90% of China's groundwater is contaminated. That produces runoff containing ammonia nitrogen and other toxins into crops, per a study.
In Central Asia, the average age of the irrigation infrastructure is over 50 years old, which creates massive waste from canals, per the Eurasian Development Bank. Southeast Asia also deals with constant floods that can damage crops and reduce yields without proper infrastructure to manage them.
Extreme weather events like intensified wildfires, flooding, and drought are a direct result of an overheated planet. The resulting reduced or delayed crops cause food prices to rise, create shortages, and threaten livelihoods. In China, some vegetable prices rose 40% last year because of drought impacts. For families struggling in any country, increased grocery prices are another detriment that can be hard to avoid without large-scale initiatives from governments and stakeholders like ADB.
However, individuals can take charge by learning to grow what crops they can in their area. Plus, you can plan and shop smarter at the grocery store by making a list, focusing on in-season items, and checking out services like Too Good To Go.
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