IP Rights and Food Industry

Any Agro-Food company that invests in some form of creative or intellectual output, whether it be in R&D, manufacturing, product formulation, packaging, marketing, media, or sales and distribution needs to be aware of Intellectual Property Rights.

Intellectual property pertains to any original creation of the human intellect such as artistic, literary, technical, or scientific creation. Intellectual property rights (IPR) refer to the legal rights given to the inventor or creator to protect his/her invention or creation for a certain period of time.

It is very well settled that IP play a vital role in the modern economy. It has also been conclusively established that the intellectual labor associated with the innovation should be given due importance so that public good emanates from it. There has been a quantum jump in R&D costs with an associated jump in investments required for putting a new technology in the market place. The stakes of the developers of technology have become very high, and hence, the need to protect the knowledge from unlawful use has become expedient, at least for a period, that would ensure recovery of the R&D and other associated costs and adequate profits for continuous investments in R&D.

IPR is a strong tool, to protect investments, time, money, effort invested by the inventor/creator of an IP, since it grants the inventor/creator an exclusive right for a certain period of time for use of his invention/creation. Thus IPR, in this way aids the economic development of a country by promoting healthy competition and encouraging industrial development and economic growth.

As noted by the World Trade Organization (WTO), intellectual property rights are customarily divided into two main areas:

1. Copyright and rights related to copyright

The rights of authors of literary and artistic works (such as books and other writings, musical compositions, paintings, sculpture, computer programs and films) are protected by copyright, for a minimum period of 50 years after the death of the author.

Also protected through copyright and related (sometimes referred to as “neighboring”) rights are the rights of performers (e.g. actors, singers and musicians), producers of phonograms (sound recordings) and broadcasting organizations. The main social purpose of protection of copyright and related rights is to encourage and reward creative work.

2. Industrial property

Industrial property can usefully be divided into two main areas:

One area can be characterized as the protection of distinctive signs, in particular trademarks and geographical indications.

The protection of such distinctive signs aims to stimulate and ensure fair competition and to protect consumers, by enabling them to make informed choices between various goods and services. The protection may last indefinitely, provided the sign in question continues to be distinctive.

Other types of industrial property are protected primarily to stimulate innovation, design and the creation of technology. In this category fall inventions (protected by patents), industrial designs and trade secrets.

The social purpose is to provide protection for the results of investment in the development of new technology, thus giving the incentive and means to finance research and development activities.

A functioning intellectual property regime should also facilitate the transfer of technology in the form of foreign direct investment, joint ventures and licensing.

Each form of IPRs has different requirements and grants different rights. Before the whole range of possibilities offered by modern technologies in the agricultural sector was available, inventions based on living organisms were considered natural phenomena, i.e. discoveries, and were thus not patentable. However, developments in modern biotechnology require substantial levels of investment in research and development, and its processes and products can be easily copied. The IPRs system provides a way of ensuring the financial revenues required to make the technology profitable.

In what follows we take a look at the various IP rights that are available to agro-food companies.

Patents

In a legal terminology a patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention, which can be a product or a process that provides, in general, a new way of doing something, or offers a new technical solution to a problem.  A patent provides protection for the invention to the owner of the patent. The owner can be an individual, or a group of people or organization. In order to be patentable, the invention must fulfill certain conditions as specified in the Patent Act.

Patent protection means that the invention cannot be commercially made, used, distributed or sold without the patent owner's consent. These patent rights are usually enforced in a court, which, in most systems, holds the authority to stop patent infringement.

A patent owner has the right to decide who may – or may not – use the patented invention for the period in which the invention is protected. Under TRIPS agreement of WTO, the protection is granted for a limited period, generally 20 years. The patent owner may give permission to, or license other parties to use the invention on mutually agreed terms. The owner may also sell the right to the invention to someone else, who will then become the new owner of the patent. Conversely, a court can also declare a patent invalid upon a successful challenge by a third party.

Once a patent expires, the protection ends, and an invention enters the public domain. The owner then no longer holds exclusive rights to the invention. It becomes available to commercial exploitation by others.

All patent owners are under obligation to publicly disclose information on their invention in order to enrich the total body of technical knowledge in the world. Such an ever-increasing body of public knowledge promotes further creativity and innovation. In this way, patents provide not only protection for the owner but valuable information and inspiration for future generations of researchers and inventors.

The agro-food industry is currently experiencing rapid technical advances, which are set to continue with the growing interest in, for example, functional foods; and, in view of the increasing crossover that exists with pharmaceutical chemistry and biotechnology, patents are now highly relevant. A patent may provide protection for a novel microorganism, plant or animal that has been genetically modified to produce a particular food ingredient or additive.

It may also protect a new synthetic process, a molecule produced by that process, or the use of that molecule to produce a particular effect, for example, a flavor, aroma, texture or stability. It is also possible to patent a new and improved composition, or a method or apparatus for making or testing a composition. With shelf life, nutrition and health becoming increasingly important to today’s consumer, machines, techniques and processes for testing or monitoring food quality may all provide patentable subject matter.

Robots or other machines used for performing tasks, such as packaging of food products, and different types of packaging are also candidates for patent protection.

A patent is commonly described as a “monopoly right”, meaning that it gives its owner the right to prevent everyone, other than people authorized by the owner, to use, produce, sell, import or keep anything that falls under the protection of the patent.

A patent is an item of personal property and, like any other property; it can be bought, sold or licensed. Patents have a lifespan of 20 years from the filing date of the application (subject to the payment of annual fees), and have a territorial effect.

To simplify the patenting in many countries WIPO administers Patent Cooperation Treaty. The WIPO-administered Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) provides for the filing of a single international patent application, which has the same effect as national applications filed in the designated countries. An applicant seeking protection may file one application and request protection in as many signatory states as needed.

Any resident or national of a Contracting State of the PCT may file an international application under the PCT. A single international patent application has the same effect as national applications filed in each designated Contracting State of the PCT. However, under the PCT system, in order to obtain patent protection in the designated States, a patent shall be granted by each designated State to the claimed invention contained in the international application.

Procedural and substantive requirements for the grant of patents as well as the amount of fees required are different from one country/region to the other. It is therefore recommended to consult any practicing techno-legal professional who is specialized in intellectual property or the intellectual property offices of those countries in which one is are interested to get protection.

Searchable Internet patent databases have significantly facilitated the access to patent information. However, given the complexity of patent documents and the technical and legal skills required, it is advisable to contact a professional patent attorney. Please note Patent is a techno-legal exercise and not just legal drafting.

Trademarks

A trademark is basically a sign that is used to distinguish the goods or services offered by one undertaking from those offered by another. A trademark is a word, a logo, a number, a letter, a slogan, a sound, a color, or sometimes even a smell, which identifies the source of goods and/or services with which the trademark is used.

Its purpose is to protect the name of the product rather than the invention or idea behind the product. Trademarks can be owned by individuals or companies and should be registered with a governmental agency, which is usually referred to as the Trademarks Office.

Generally speaking, trademarks should be distinctive and should neither be generic nor merely descriptive of the goods or services they represent. For example, the word "vegetable" cannot be registered as a trademark of a supermarket, since it is certainly descriptive of items, which a supermarket sells. In addition, it cannot be registered as a trademark for carrots, since it is a generic term for carrots. On the other hand, the word "vegetable" might well serve as a trademark for bicycles since it has little or nothing to do with bicycles.

 Trademarks should preferably not be geographical or primarily a surname. Thus, "Paris" cannot serve as a trademark for perfume. In many countries, trademarks, which comprise mere letters and/or numbers or are surnames, are considered to be indistinct.

In some instances, trademark registration can still be obtained for trademarks that are merely (i) descriptive, (ii) a surname, (iii) geographic or (iv) indistinct.

Trademarks, also known as brand names, are part of everyday life. Trademarks usually ensure a consistent level of quality - be it good or bad. A mark helps you to use your experience either to return to a desirable product or service or to avoid an undesirable one.

The symbol  should be used to represent a registered trademark, whereas the symbol “TM” should be used where the trademark is not registered.

Trademarks can be important marketing tools for your business and, unlike patents; a trademark can last forever. They also have territorial rights. As with patents, international treaties and laws are in place to make it easier for a trademark owner to register a trademark in several countries simultaneously. By filing a trademark application via the Madrid System, an international trademark can be obtained in those member states.

A trademark is registered only in connection with specific categories of goods and services. This has the interesting consequence that it can enable different companies to use very similar or identical trade names or marks, provided that the respective goods or services of each company are sufficiently different to avoid confusion. But, a valid trademark gives its owner the legal right to prevent others from using a similar mark in connection with the same or similar goods. In other words, it allows the trademark owner to prevent competitors from using marks that imitate or could be confused with an existing trademark.

Geographical Indications

The term “geographical indication” has been chosen by WIPO to describe the subject matter of a new treaty for the international protection of names and symbols, which indicate a certain geographical origin of a given product.

A geographical indication tells consumers that a product is produced in a certain place and has certain characteristics that are due to that place of production. All producers who make their products in the place designated by a geographical indication and whose products share typical qualities may use it.

It embraces all existing means of protection of such names and symbols, regardless of whether they indicate the qualities of a given product due to its geographical origin (such as appellations of origin), or they merely indicate the place of origin of a product.

This definition also covers symbols, because geographical indications are not only constituted by names, such as the name of a town, a region or a country, but may also consist of symbols. Such symbols may be capable of indicating the origin of goods without literally naming its place of origin.

The commercial significance of this relatively new term can be assessed by the fact that Geographical Indications are integral part of national, regional and international trade negotiations.

When considering geographical indications as a special kind of distinctive sign used in commerce and thus as a particular category of intellectual property, it is important to distinguish them from trademarks: a geographical indication identifies a geographical area in which one or several enterprises are located which produce the kind of product for which the geographical indication is used. Thus, there is no “owner” of a geographical indication in the sense that one person or enterprise can exclude other persons or enterprises from the use of a geographical indication, but each and every enterprise which is located in the area to which the geographical indication refers to has the right to use the said indication for the products originating in the said area, but possibly subject to compliance with certain quality requirements as prescribed.

It might well be that a geographical name is regarded in one country as a geographical indication and is protected accordingly, whereas it is considered to be a generic or semi-generic term in another country. Notorious examples for such diverging treatment of geographical names are the French names “Champagne” and “Chablis” which, in France, are only allowed to be used for products originating from a certain geographical area and produced according to certain quality standards, whereas, in the United States of America for example, they are regarded as being semi-generic names, and therefore may be also used for wines not originating from the particular area of production in France. Geographical indications are protected in accordance with national laws and under a wide range of concepts, such as laws against unfair competition, consumer protection laws, laws for the protection of certification marks or special laws for the protection of geographical indications or appellations of origin.

A number of treaties administered by the WIPO provide for the protection of geographical indications, most notably being the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property of 1883, and the Lisbon Agreement for the Protection of Appellations of Origin and Their International Registration. In addition, Articles 22 to 24 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) deal with the international protection of geographical indications within the framework of the WTO.

Trade Secrets

Trade secrets encompass manufacturing, industrial secrets and/or commercial secrets. The unauthorized use of such information by persons other than the holder is regarded as an unfair practice and a violation of the trade secret. Depending on the legal system, the protection of trade secrets forms part of the general concept of protection against unfair competition or is based on specific provisions or case law on the protection of confidential information.

The subject matter of trade secrets is usually defined in general and broad terms and includes recipes, formulations, sales methods, distribution methods, consumer profiles, advertising strategies, lists of suppliers and clients, and manufacturing processes. While a final determination of what information constitutes a trade secret will depend on the circumstances of each individual case, clearly unfair practices in respect of secret information include industrial or commercial espionage, breach of contract and breach of confidence.

Contrary to patents, trade secrets are protected without registration. For these reasons, the protection of trade secrets may appear to be particularly attractive for food industry. There are, however, some conditions for the information to be considered a trade secret. WTO agreement on TRIPS also recognizes the concept of trade secret. Compliance with such conditions may turn out to be more difficult and costly than it would appear at first glance. While these conditions vary from country to country, some general standards exist which are referred to in Art. 39 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement):

The information must be secret (i.e. it is not generally known among, or readily accessible to, circles that normally deal with the kind of information in question).

It must have commercial value because it is a secret.

It must have been subject to reasonable steps by the rightful holder of the information to keep it secret (e.g., through confidentiality agreements).

Trade secrets are widely used by food industry including multinationals. In fact, many food companies rely almost exclusively on trade secrets for the protection of their IP (although in many cases they may not even be aware that trade secrets are legally protected). It is important, therefore, to make sure that food enterprises take all necessary measures to protect their trade secrets effectively.

Trade secret protection does not require compliance with formalities such as disclosure of the information to a Government authority.

There are, however, some concrete disadvantages of protecting confidential business information as a trade secret, especially when the information meets the criteria for patentability:

If the secret is embodied in an innovative product, others may be able to inspect it, dissect and analyze it and discover the secret and be thereafter entitled to use it. Trade secret protection of an invention in fact does not provide the exclusive right to exclude third parties from making commercial use of it. Only patents and utility models can provide this type of protection.

The level of protection granted to trade secrets varies significantly from country to country, but is generally considered weak, particularly when compared with the protection granted by a patent.

Registered Designs

Registered designs protect the physical appearance of an article (or part of an article), such as its shape, configuration, pattern or ornamentation, including features of lines, contours, colors, texture or material. To register, a design must be “new”, which means it must not be the same as any known design; and have “individual character”, which essentially means that it gives a different overall impression to any previously known design.

It is possible to register a design in connection with almost any “article”, whether it is mass-produced in industry, or a unique handicraft object. In the agro-food industry, a registered design may be used to cover a new type of packaging or the features of an electrical apparatus.

Since a registered design can cover the whole or part of an object, a complicated item may be protected by many different designs. Interestingly, a registered design may even protect the appearance of a food item, for example, the shape of a teabag.

Registered designs provide similar rights to those of patents, in the sense that they can be enforced to stop unauthorized persons from using, making, selling or importing a product having an infringing design, for a maximum term of 25 years. As with other forms of IP rights, it is possible to obtain registered design rights internationally.

Copyright

Copyright relates to the expression of an idea, rather than to the idea itself. Thus, it applies to original literary, artistic or graphical works, including software programs. A copyrighted work cannot be copied, without the consent of the owner, for the term of the copyright, which, in most cases, is the life of the author (or creator) plus 70 years. The best way to indicate that a work is protected under copyright law is to display the symbol along with the name of the copyright owner and the year of the work.

Copyright is particularly relevant to the design, imagery and labeling of packaging, and also applies to two-dimensional design drawings, such as plans, for example, for new packaging or machinery.

Conclusion

In the global marketplace, agro-food companies need to look to protect their IP abroad, as well as in their country of origin. Most IP systems work internationally and so it is generally straightforward to secure protection in key foreign markets. IP is becoming rapidly more important in agro-food industry and you ignore it at your peril.

It is generally believed that in the field of agriculture, intellectual property regime will spur activity among the scientists and farmers to facilitate new knowledge that will lead to innovations. Such innovations will save countries from relying on “climate fed” agriculture and pave way to intelligently driven agricultural practices. Releasing agro-based population will expand other areas of the economy such as the tourism industry, the retail industry and other technologically oriented industries. This can also make countries to effectively join the value added biotech industry and save their populations from malnutrition and hunger. Moreover it will also attract more investment and exchange of goods from other countries.

Ago-food companies can benefit from the wealth of technological and commercial information available in patent and trademark databases to learn about recent technological breakthroughs, identify future partners, and find out about the innovative activities of competitors.

Finally, managing IP effectively and using it to devise business strategies is an increasingly critical task for entrepreneurs worldwide.

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Jeonju: Rich Culture

Jeonju is a capital city of North Jeolla Province. It is an important tourist center famous for Korean food, historic buildings, sports activities and innovative festivals.
Located in the fertile Honam plain, famous for strawberries and exceptional produce, Jeonju has been an important regional center in the province for centuries. Once, the city was the capital of Hubaekje Kingdom, which was founded by Gyeon Hwon. The city was regarded as the spiritual capital of the Joseon Dynasty because the Yi royal family originated there.
Jeonju was given metropolitan status in 1935, and the city was founded in 1949. In May 2012, Jeonju was chosen as a Creative Cities for Gastronomy as part of UNESCO's Creative Cities Network. This honor recognize the city's traditional home cooking handed down through generations over thousands of years, its active public and private food research, a system of nurturing talented chefs, and its hosting of distinctive local food festivals.
Korea’s most famous international dish Bibimbap, originated in Jeonju. There are many hypotheses regarding the origins of the bibimbap; from the royal table, a ritual food, the Donghak revolution, a farming season food or royal flight during war time; but the most reliable of these is the royal table origination.
It was first served at the royal table but was then passed down and spread amongst the lower classes. According to records, people started to eat bibimbap in Jeonju two hundred years ago. Jeonju bibimbap owes its popularity to perfectly steamed rice topped with freshly-cut vegetables (10 different ingredients in Jeonju) combined with the excellent cooking skills of the local women.
Also, Kongnamul Kukbap (bean sprout soup) is a well-known remedy for hang-overs while the Jeonju Table d’hote is the true and genuine highlight of Jeolla-do cuisine.
However, Jeonju is a must-visit destination, not just for the tasty food, but also the many treasures including a Traditional Korean village. It is recommended that tourists visiting Jeonju, begin at this unique village. The village area includes a traditional hot spring and is surrounded by many popular tourist spots. This is a must-see for foreign tourists.
Other cultural gems include Pungnammun Gate, Jeonju Confucian School, Jeonju Traditional Life Experience Park, Jeonju Traditional Craftworks Exhibition Hall, Jeonju Treasures Center, Gangam Calligraphy Museum, Jeonju Traditional Culture Center, and Jeondong Cathedral, well known in Korean Catholic history. In addition, the Jeonju Traditional Culture Center gives visitors the unique experience of life in a traditional Korean house, known as 'Hanok' in Korean. The Jeonju Hanok Living Experience Center also gives visitors traditional style accommodations in a comfortable setting. This is a great experience for foreigners.
Aside from the Hanok Living Experience Center, there are many other great places to visit, such as the Pan Asia Paper Museum, Jeonju World Cup Stadium, and Deokjin Park. Deokjin Park delights visitors in July and August with Lotus flower plants reaching heights of several feet high. If you have additional time, try visiting the nearby cities of Namwon, Muju, Jinan, and Jeongeup. During the autumn months, the Jeongeup mountain area is beautiful with its incredible fall foliage.
The spirit of Jeonju can be found in its lively festivals. Some of these festivals include the Jeonju International Film Festival, Jeonju Daesaseupnori, Jeonju Sori Music Festival, World Calligraphy Biennale of Chonbuk, Jeon Pungnam Festival and Jeonju Paper Culture Festival which highlights some of Jeonju's most celebrated items including traditionally made Korean paper, fans and igang wine.
Jeonju is a major transportation hub, so getting there doesn’t present much of a problem. The quickest way is to take the KTX from Seoul’s Yongsan Station to Iksan, and transfer to another train to Jeonju. The trip takes about 2 hours, 30 minutes in total. There are cheaper trains that go directly to Jeonju from Yongsan, but they’re much slower and they tend to fill up on the weekends.
Check out more information at http://www.jeonju.go.kr/

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Tackling Food Waste

Faced with the challenges of demographic developments, climate change and the need to use resources efficiently, combating food losses and food waste will go a long way in tackling food security.
Global agricultural production is expected to grow 1.5% a year on average over the coming decade, compared with annual growth of 2.1% between 2003 and 2012, according to a new report published by the OECD and FAO.
Limited expansion of agricultural land, rising production costs, growing resource constraints and increasing environmental pressures are the main factors behind the trend. But the report argues that farm commodity supply should keep pace with global demand.
The OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2013-2022 expects prices to remain above historical averages over the medium term for both crop and livestock products due to a combination of slower production growth and stronger demand, including for biofuels.
The report says agriculture has been turned into an increasingly market-driven sector, as opposed to policy-driven as it was in the past, thus offering developing countries important investment opportunities and economic benefits, given their growing food demand, potential for production expansion and comparative advantages in many global markets.
However, production shortfalls, price volatility and trade disruption remain a threat to global food security. The OECD/FAO Outlook warns: “As long as food stocks in major producing and consuming countries remain low, the risk of price volatility is amplified. A wide-spread drought such as the one experienced in 2012, on top of low food stocks, could raise world prices by 15-40 percent.”
China, with one-fifth of the world’s population, high income growth and a rapidly expanding agri-food sector, will have a major influence on world markets, and is the special focus of the report. China is projected to remain self-sufficient in the main food crops, although output is anticipated to slow in the next decade due to land, water and rural labor constraints.
Driven by growing populations, higher incomes, urbanization and changing diets, consumption of the main agricultural commodities will increase most rapidly in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, followed by Latin America and other Asian economies.
The share of global production from developing countries will continue to increase as investment in their agricultural sectors narrows the productivity gap with advanced economies. Developing countries, for example, are expected to account for 80 percent of the growth in global meat production and capture much of the trade growth over the next 10 years. They will account for the majority of world exports of coarse grains, rice, oilseeds, vegetable oil, sugar, beef, poultry and fish by 2022. To capture a share of these economic benefits, governments will need to invest in their agricultural sectors to encourage innovation, increase productivity and improve integration in global value chains, FAO and OECD stressed.
Agricultural policies need to address the inherent volatility of commodity markets with improved tools for risk management while ensuring the sustainable use of land and water resources and reducing food loss and waste.
Food Waste Estimates
Food losses and food waste occur in every part of the world. However, according to the FAO, in developing countries over 40% of these losses take place in the post-harvest and processing stages, whereas in industrialized countries they occur chiefly in the distribution and consumption stages.
In developing and low-income countries, the bulk of losses occur in the production and post harvest stage owing to financial resources insufficient to improve existing infrastructure.
In industrialized countries, however, the problem is more behavioral in nature. In recent decades in the EU, rising agricultural productivity has made it possible to guarantee a reasonably priced food supply for the public. This development, coupled with a rise in disposable income, has had the effect of slashing the proportion of people's budget that is spent on food. This trend can partly explain the increase in consumer waste. Sociological reasons such as changes in family structure or lifestyle are also contributing factors in food waste.
According to estimates by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the impact of food waste is not just financial. Environmentally, food waste leads to wasteful use of chemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides; more fuel used for transportation; and more rotting food, creating more methane – one of the most harmful greenhouse gases that contributes to climate change. Methane is 23 times more potent than CO2 as a greenhouse gas. The vast amount of food going to landfills makes a significant contribution to global warming.
Roughly one third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year — approximately 1.3 billion tons — gets lost or wasted.
Every year, consumers in rich countries waste almost as much food (222 million tons) as the entire net food production of sub-Saharan Africa (230 million tons).
The amount of food lost or wasted every year is equivalent to more than half of the world's annual cereals crop (2.3 billion tons in 2009/2010).
Food loss and waste also amount to a major squandering of resources, including water, land, energy, labor and capital and needlessly produce greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to global warming and climate change.
In developing countries food waste and losses occur mainly at early stages of the food value chain and can be traced back to financial, managerial and technical constraints in harvesting techniques as well as storage –and cooling facilities. Thus, a strengthening of the supply chain through the support farmers and investments in infrastructure, transportation, as well as in an expansion of the food –and packaging industry could help to reduce the amount of food loss and waste.
In medium- and high-income countries food is wasted and lost mainly at later stages in the supply chain. Differing from the situation in developing countries, the behavior of consumers plays a huge part in industrialized countries. Moreover, the study identified a lacking coordination between actors in the supply chain as a contributing factor. Farmer-buyer agreements can be helpful to increase the level of coordination. Additionally, raising awareness among industries, retailers and consumers as well as finding beneficial use for save food that is presently thrown away are useful measures to decrease the amount of losses and waste.
In the United States 30% of all food, worth $48.3 billion, is thrown away each year. It is estimated that about half of the water used to produce this food also goes to waste, since agriculture is the largest human use of water.
United Kingdom households waste an estimated 6.7 million tons of food every year, around one third of the 21.7 million tons purchased. This means that approximately 32% of all food purchased per year is not eaten. Most of this (5.9 million tons or 88%) is currently collected by local authorities. Most of the food waste (4.1 million tons or 61%) is avoidable and could have been eaten had it been better managed.
In the USA, organic waste is the second highest component of landfills, which are the largest source of methane emissions.
Up to 50% of food gets wasted in EU households, supermarkets, restaurants and along the food supply chain each year, while 79 million EU citizens live beneath the poverty line and 16 million depend on food aid from charitable institutions.
Currently food wastage amounts in the EU to 89 million tons per annum (i.e. 179 kg per capita) and the projection for 2020 – if no action is taken – is 126 million tons (i.e. a 40% increase).
Asia-Pacific Campaign
While hunger is the world’s number one health risk, about one third of food for human consumption is lost or wasted globally each year. In addition, when food is wasted, all of the resources that were put into its production are lost. Not only are these increasingly scarce resources, such as water and fuel, lost, but greenhouse gas emissions are also associated with the disposal of food.
Therefore, food wastage represents a missed opportunity to feed the growing world population, a major waste of resources and a needless source of greenhouse gas emissions that impacts climate change. It also has negative economic consequences for everyone along the food chain when food goes to waste.
Denouncing the huge amount of food that goes to waste, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific, Hiroyuki Konuma, recently announced a new initiative aimed at stopping post-harvest food losses and market-to-consumer food waste.
"The Save Food Asia-Pacific Campaign seeks to raise awareness about the high levels of food losses - particularly post-harvest losses - and the growing problem of food waste in the region," Konuma said.
"FAO estimates that if the food wasted or lost globally could be reduced by just one quarter, this would be sufficient to feed the 870 million people suffering from chronic hunger in the world," said Konuma.
The announcement came as Konuma opened the two-day High-Level Multi-Stakeholder Consultation on Food Losses and Food Waste in Asia and the Pacific Region in collaboration with the Asian Institute of Technology and other partners.
More than 130 participants from 20 countries attended the Consultation, including four Agriculture Ministers. The Consultation will study ways to reduce food loss and waste and is expected to issue a communiqué outlining actions that can save food from farm to table.
According to Konuma, "The world produces more or less sufficient food to meet the demand of its current population of 7 billion. However, 12.5 percent of the global population, or 868 million people, equivalent to one in eight people, go hungry every day. In 2012, the Asia-Pacific region was home to 536 million hungry people, or 62 percent of the world's undernourished."
The Asia-Pacific region benefitted from rapid economic growth in the first decade of the 21st century. But, successful economic growth did not alleviate hunger and poverty, because the benefits of economic growth were unevenly distributed, resulting in a widening income gap in many countries in the region.
According to statistics from the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, an estimated 653 million people across the region, lived below the national poverty line in 2010.
There is no doubt that win the context of Asia and the Pacific Region, more effort is needed to raise global awareness of the critical issue of food losses and particularly post-harvest losses as well as food waste, which is a is increasing nowadays.
American Initiative
In June, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), in collaboration with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched the U.S. Food Waste Challenge, calling on others across the food chain—including producer groups, processors, manufacturers, retailers, communities, and other government agencies − to join the effort to reduce, recover, and recycle food waste.
Secretary Tom Vilsack and EPA Acting Administrator Bob Perciasepe were joined at the event by representatives from private-sector partners and supporters including Rio Farms, Unilever, General Mills, the Food Waste Reduction Alliance, Feeding America, and Rock and Wrap It Up!.
Food waste in the United States is estimated at roughly between 30 to 40 percent of the food supply. In 2010, an estimated 133 billion pounds of food from U.S. retail food stores, restaurants, and homes never made it into people's stomachs. The amount of uneaten food in homes and restaurants was valued at almost $390 per U.S. consumer in 2008, more than an average month's worth of food expenditures.
"The United States enjoys the most productive and abundant food supply on earth, but too much of this food goes to waste," said Secretary Vilsack. "Not only could this food be going to folks who need it – we also have an opportunity to reduce the amount of food that ends up in America's landfills. By joining together with EPA and businesses from around the country, we have an opportunity to better educate folks about the problem of food waste and begin to address this problem across the nation."
"Food waste the single largest type of waste entering our landfills -- Americans throw away up to 40 percent of their food. Addressing this issue not only helps with combating hunger and saving money, but also with combating climate change: food in landfills decomposes to create potent greenhouse gases," said EPA Acting Administrator Bob Perciasepe. "I'm proud that EPA is joining with USDA today to announce the U.S. Food Waste Challenge. With the help of partners across the country, we can ensure that our nation's food goes to our families and those in need – not the landfill."
The goal of the U.S. Food Waste Challenge is to lead a fundamental shift in how we think about and manage food and food waste in this country. The Challenge includes a goal to have 400 partner organizations by 2015 and 1,000 by 2020.
As part of its contribution to the U.S. Food Waste Challenge, USDA is initiating a wide range of activities including activities to reduce waste in the school meals program, educate consumers about food waste and food storage, and develop new technologies to reduce food waste. USDA will also work with industry to increase donations from imported produce that does not meet quality standards, streamline procedures for donating wholesome misbranded meat and poultry products, update U.S. food loss estimates at the retail level, and pilot-test a meat-composting program to reduce the amount of meat being sent to landfills from food safety inspection labs.
Through its Food Recovery Challenge, EPA will provide U.S. Food Waste Challenge participants with the opportunity to access data management software and technical assistance ( www.epa.gov/smm/foodrecovery/) to help them quantify and improve their sustainable food management practices.
European Initiative
In July, representatives from across Europe’s food supply chain announced the launch of a joint effort to tackle the major societal problem of food wastage via the publication of their Joint Declaration entitled, ‘Every Crumb Counts’.
Launched at an event in Brussels in the presence of distinguished speakers from the European Parliament, the European Commission, a number of NGOs and industry representatives, co-signatories of the Declaration aim not only to work towards preventing edible food waste but also to promote a life-cycle approach to reducing wastage and to proactively input into European, national and global solutions and initiatives in this area.
With the long-term sustainability of the food chain foremost in mind, and conscious of the global environmental impact of food disposal such as an increase in greenhouse gas emissions, co-signatories commit to contribute to the objective of reducing food wastage throughout the entire food supply chain, in line with the European Commission’s goal of halving edible food waste by 2020, set out in the Europe 2020 Flagship Initiative ‘A resource-efficient Europe’.  Furthermore, the Joint Declaration explores how new markets and better food recovery can contribute to economic growth.
Lending his support to the initiative, Matthias Groote MEP, Chair of the European Parliament’s Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee, said: "Food wastage does not only have a big impact on the global food situation, but also significant economic and ecologic consequences. I welcome the launch of the Joint Stakeholder Declaration […] which seeks to raise awareness of food waste and of solutions to tackle this issue, and of the presentation of the new online toolkit for manufacturers.  Policymakers, companies and consumers all have to be part of the solution".
Speaking on the occasion of the launch, representatives of the several co-signatory organizations emphasized the importance of the initiative:
FoodDrinkEurope President, Jesús Serafín Pérez said: “We are encouraged by the degree of support that the Joint Food Wastage Declaration, ‘Every Crumb Counts’ has received so far; it is our hope that this will be rolled out effectively not only among actors along the food supply chain, but also by other groups, thereby contributing significantly to the flagship EU 2020 Goal for a resource-efficient Europe. FoodDrinkEurope is pleased also to announce the launch of its new Food Waste Industry Toolkit , ‘Maximizing food resources: A Toolkit for food manufacturers on avoiding food wastage’, developed to help food manufacturers reduce and prevent food waste by sharing best practice and guidance throughout the industry”.
Virginia Janssens, Managing Director of EUROPEN added: “As part of the food supply chain, EUROPEN (packaging supply chain) members are committed to further contribute to food waste prevention. Packaging is part of the solution as it prevents food spoilage for longer and ensures food quality and safety along the supply chain and at home, also informing consumers on best use and storage of packaged food products. Further investments in packaging innovation and technologies, such as in the areas of active and intelligent packaging, increasing shelf-life and portion sizes, play a key role.”
Isabel Jonet, President of the European Federation of Foodbanks (FEBA) commented: “Recovering edible food before it is destroyed and redistributing it to beneficiary charities which take care of deprived people is the ‘raison d’être’ of our network of 253 food banks in 21 European countries. FEBA thoroughly supports this Joint Declaration on Food Wastage as we are convinced that building stronger cooperation between food banks and FoodDrinkEurope members is a very efficient and proven way to reduce food waste and hunger simultaneously”.
Mark Linehan, Managing Director of the Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) said: “The SRA welcomes and supports this Declaration as it addresses one of the most important global issues of our time. Food wastage has an enormous social, environmental and economic impact, so reducing it should be a no-brainer for restaurants, especially as we know from research that it is something diners care about deeply. Many restaurants are already taking significant steps, and we would urge those that are not, to take action now, for the benefit of the planet, food security and their bottom line.”
Rocco Renaldi, Secretary General of FoodServiceEurope commented: “Reducing food waste is a real challenge, especially in the just-in-time environment of the contract catering sector. But it is an environmental, economic and ethical imperative that we play our part. FoodServiceEurope is proud to join food manufacturers and others in what we hope will become a food chain approach to food waste reduction.”
Frédéric Rosseneu, Secretary General of Europatat said: “We recognize the importance of the current societal and political debate regarding food wastage. Whilst potatoes which cannot be sold fresh are generally used for processing or animal feed, our involvement in the Joint Declaration aims to raise further awareness about the issue and to exchange best practices in the supply chain but and towards the consumer."
Philippe Binard, General Delegate of Freshfel Europe noted: “Food wastage is a highly complex issue which requires the involvement of all partners in the supply chain in order to tackle it effectively and not just shift it further up or down in the chain. This has been the key driver for Freshfel’s participation in the Joint Declaration. There’s no silver bullet solution, but we hope the increased awareness and exchange of best practices within the fruit and vegetable category will help to reduce the level of wastage across the chain.”
Ingrid Verschueren, Packaging Division Manager of EuPC said: “Roughly one third of the edible portions of food produced for human consumption are never eaten and that is unacceptable. Plastic packaging can play a significant role in reducing this number and that is why EuPC is welcoming and supporting the ‘Every Crumb Counts’ Declaration”.
Today, companies are beginning to understand the social, environmental, and economic costs of food waste and starting to recognize the benefits of reducing waste or diverting it to better uses. These opportunities can be pursued through innovation, collaboration, and leadership.

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Scattered Fates - a novel on the second partition of India

Interested in Indian fiction? Alternate history?
FREE download of my novel Scattered Fates.
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It is an alternate history novel, which unwraps in the backdrop of violent anti-Hindi agitations that rocked the State of Tamil Nadu (India) 50 years ago, narrated over two time frames – 1965 and 2005. It is the story of a son's search for the truth about his father's disappearance and the political intrigue that led to India's second partition into South & North, intertwined with the history of Korea

Extended Description

SCATTERED FATES is an alternate history novel, which unwraps in the backdrop of violent anti-Hindi agitations that rocked the State of Tamil Nadu and is narrated over two time frames – 1965 and 2005.
It is the story, in lucid conversational style, of Subbaiah, a university professor who gets drawn to the ideology of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, a political party that opposed the imposition of Hindi as the sole national language on 60 percent of the country’s population. He is entrusted with the task of rallying students to protest against the government’s decision to remove English as an official Indian language. The violence that follows spreads across South India, and the military is called in to restore order.
He shelters Moon, a young injured foreign exchange student from Corea. While recuperating in his house, Moon gets acquainted with the culture and traditions of his host, including the intricacies of the caste system, thanks to his inquisitive nature and friendly banter with Subbaiah’s neighbor and best friend Ganapathy, a Brahmin, who is initially against this movement led by the backward castes, but slowly changes his mind.
Moon is put on the first flight home as the civil war spirals out of control.
Starting as a minor party functionary, Subbaiah ends up playing a crucial role in the freedom movement that ultimately leads to the second partition of India into Dravida (South India) and Hindustan (North India). He is even tipped to be the first Finance Minister of his newly independent country, but loses out to his political rival.
A decade after independence, Subbaiah suddenly disappears without a trace. While everyone assumes that Hindustan spies abducted him, there are also doubts that he may have willingly defected to enemy territory.
Thirty years later, Subbaiah’s son Naga, a journalist in Dravida, Asia’s most prosperous capitalist economy, plays host to Maya, a beautiful online friend from Corea who comes visiting for her research. She has strong sympathies for the socialist ideology and is pursuing her PhD on countries divided by civil wars. While helping her get acquainted with his country’s cultural traditions, they encounter a retired university professor, Ganapathy, who denies knowing Subbaiah, reacting in a suspicious and evasive manner. They are convinced that he is hiding something, suspect his role in Subbaiah’s disappearance, and are determined to unravel the truth.
The duo finally manages to get the truth out. It was not something they were prepared to hear.

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Government Curbs Stifle South Korean Lottery Industry Growth

First published in Asia Gambling Brief
Gaming regulators in South Korea, backed by a powerful anti-gambling lobby and the media, have declared that the domestic lottery market is overheating - although even a cursory glance at the figures reveals little evidence of the claim

The headline numbers show that lottery sales, which hit an eight-year high last year, continued the momentum in the first half of 2013, with the official sales target for 2013 set at 3.29 trillion won ($3 billion), a 3.2 percent annual increase.

But the latest statistics released by the Korea Lottery Commission, the regulatory authority under the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, reveal sales in the first half of this year rose by a modest 0.45 percent, or 7.5 billion won from 1.6 trillion won in the previous year.

Far from overheating the market is actually being artificially constrained, according to industry executives. It not only puts a severe strain on the lottery industry, but also helps sustain the growth of illegal gambling.

The effect of the curbs becomes obvious when you contrast the performance of South Korean lottery sales with average performances in Asia Pacific. Estimates released by the World Lottery Association, show that Asia Pacific lotteries witnessed an increase in sales of 11.1 percent for the first half of 2013.

The fastest growing market remains China where total lottery sales rose 16 percent year on year. In comparison, the increase in South Korean lottery sales seems miniscule.

According to Chris Moumouris, principal consultant and vice president of business development at QLot Consulting, the market growth in South Korea is insignificant given its potential. And he should know. Before joining QLot, a Swedish lottery consultancy with offices in Europe and in North America, he worked for many years at Intralot, part of the Nanum Lotto Consortium that has been given the mandate to run the online lottery business in South Korea until 2017.

As board director at Intralot Asia Pacific and Intralot Korea, he was chiefly responsible for bagging the South Korean deal in 2007 and oversaw the project until 2011.

“In Greece, for example, a country with a population of just under 11 million and income levels historically similar to South Korea, the lottery market is almost four times higher. South Korea, although a first-world nation and a global technology leader, is way under developed,” he told AGB.

In the past, it might have been argued that the industry’s growth potential was bound to be limited because of the social stigma attached to lotteries in a Confucian society but that restraint has slowly faded over the years thanks to government promotions and the knowledge that most of the proceeds go towards welfare programs.

According to a recent poll by the Ministry of Finance, nearly six in every 10 South Koreans purchased lottery tickets at least once last year. In the survey of 1,002 people, 55.2 percent said that they had bought lottery tickets.

So, what is holding back the market?

Moumouris maintains that if it is to expand, the legal and regulatory framework needs drastic changes.

“Europe is the world’s most pioneering region as far as lotteries and gambling is concerned and the South Korea legislative and regulatory framework has a lot to learn from that. The lottery operators should be allowed a wide portfolio of games, which they should be able to offer across all channels (retail, internet, mobile).”

The Korea Lottery Commission is responsible for formulating and implementing lottery-related policies, and has exclusive authority to issue, sell, and manage lottery products, but it entrusts private lottery companies with the operations. Nanum Lotto Co. Ltd. conducts the only allowed online lottery (Lotto 6/45) operations, while Korea Union Lottery Co. Ltd. handles printed and Internet lotteries that include one draw game (Pension Lottery 520), three instant games (scratch cards) and seven Internet lottery games (four draw games, three instant games).

The sales data reveals that the market is lop-sided and depends too much on Lotto sales. The share of Lotto in total lottery sales increased from 2 percent in 2002 to 96.2 percent in 2010. In 2011, when a new product (Pension Lottery 520, which offers winners 5 million won of annuities every month for 20 years instead of a lump sum) was introduced, the Lotto share of the market declined to 89 percent, but it has been rising steadily since then. It was 90 percent in 2012 and 92 percent in the first half of this year..

Moumouris believes that people want to try out new lottery products but the lack of options and lack of enthusiasm for other products that offer lesser payouts made them switch back to Lotto.

Lotto continues to offer the highest prize money among all available lotteries but it is just a fraction of that in other developed markets. While jackpots often run into hundreds of millions of dollars in Europe and the US, in South Korea, the most a single jackpot winner can expect is around $10 million.

In 2003, Lotto fever peaked when the prize money hit 40.7 billion won after there was no winner for the seventh, eighth and ninth weeks of the year. Grumbles over the get-rich-quick attitude made the government limit prizes in 2004 and these restrictions have been in place since then.

Unlike other markets, the National Gaming Control Commission (NGCC), a gambling regulator under the Prime Minister’s Office, sets a regulatory limit on sales each year for the gaming industry as part of its efforts “to prevent and curb gambling addiction”.

The Finance Ministry asks the NGCC every year to eliminate the sales ceiling, arguing that the lottery is less addictive than other gambling industries and its share of GDP is half of the OECD average and a third of other Asian countries. To date, the NGCC has consistently refused the request, afraid of annoying the anti-gambling lobby.

This artificial sales cap imposed in the face of growing demand does not augur well for the lottery industry. Experts argue that instead of imposing penalties and curbing the growth of the market, the NGCC should do away with any limits and let the markets decide.

Moumouris, perhaps unsurprisingly, argues that the only solution is for the government to employ an international, independent lottery specialist firm to redefine its legal and regulatory framework for lotteries.

When non-lottery specialists like law firms were involved, the result was often a flawed framework, he said, while technology vendors and operators should also be avoided as a source of advice as they will be biased.

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Climate Change & Food Industry

Climate change may affect food systems in several ways ranging from direct effects on crop production, to changes in markets, food prices and supply chain infrastructure.

There has been a dramatic increase in recent years in the public’s awareness of global climate change, reflecting increasing stridency from the scientific community as new and stronger evidence of climate change is revealed.

The Earth’s climate is constantly changing as a result of natural processes. The atmosphere has an effect like a greenhouse on the Earth’s temperature. The energy from the sun reaching the earth is balanced by the energy the Earth emits to space. Greenhouse gases (GHGs) trap some of the energy the Earth releases to space. The GHGs in the atmosphere act as a thermostat controlling the Earth’s climate. Without this natural greenhouse effect, the average temperature on Earth would be -18˚C instead of the current +15˚C. Therefore, life as we know it would be impossible.

The majority of the world’s scientists studying this topic agree that the current rate of climate change is faster than at any time in the last 10,000 years because of human activity. Human activities affect GHG levels by introducing new sources of emissions or by removing natural sinks, such as forests. Sources are processes or activities that release GHGs; sinks are processes, activities or mechanisms that remove GHGs.

Since the industrial revolution, concentrations of GHGs have been increasing steadily as a result of industrialization (increasing sources of emissions) and deforestation (declining sinks). Between 1970 and 2004 several key GHG emissions, including carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and sulphurhexafluoride (SF6), increased by 70 percent. The scientific evidence for this is very solid. In its fourth assessment report since 1990, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded that climate change is already happening and can be primarily attributed to human activity.

Global climate change will have substantial impacts on the environment including water resources, fisheries, forests, wildlife and ecosystems. Regional climate changes, particularly temperature increases, are already affecting different natural systems on all continents and in some oceans. Scientists also predict that climate change will increase climate variability.

Key Predictions

The impacts of global climate change on food systems are expected to be widespread, complex, geographically and temporally variable, and profoundly influenced by preexisting and emerging social and economic conditions.

Some of the key findings of a recent report by Universal Ecological Fund (Fundación Ecológica Universal FEU-US) make for interesting reading. FEU-US is a non-profit, non-governmental organization that seeks to increase awareness that encourages actions on sustainable development issues through researching, analyzing, producing and disseminating information.

Its report, “The Impacts of Climate Change on Food Production: A 2020 Perspective” notes the following:

1. The temperature of the planet would increase by, at least, 2.4ºC above pre-industrial times.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most important man-made greenhouse gas. In 2008, CO2 levels reached 385.2 parts per million (ppm). With current increase rates of about 0.5 percent per year, CO2 levels could reach 410 ppm in the next decade. These levels correspond to greenhouse gases (GHGs) concentrations above 490 ppm CO2-equivalent (all greenhouse gases combined). This equals a 2.4ºC increase in global temperature above pre-industrial times.

2. Two of the three main elements of food production –water and climate— would be most affected by climate change.

Obtaining more land suitable for agricultural production is unlikely. It is therefore water availability (mainly in the form of rain, on which 80 percent of food production depends) and climate conditions, which would most significantly impact food production worldwide, with both positive and negative impacts.

3. The most significant impacts of climate change on food production would be on:

• The tropical region –the region between 30º N and S of the Equator—due to reduced water availability and increased temperatures.

• The temperate region –between 30º and 60º N and S—due to changes in precipitation.

4. Positive and negative impacts of climate change by region include:

• Africa: The region with the most severe expected impacts. About two-thirds of arable land in Africa is expected to be lost by 2025. Decreased rainfall would also impact yields from rain-fed agriculture, with estimations of up to 50 percent in some countries. A combination of increased temperature and rainfall changes would lengthen the growing season benefiting, for example, the production of Ethiopian coffee.

• Asia: The most serious potential threat arising from climate change in Asia is water scarcity. Central and South Asia would experience negative impacts, while the impacts on East and South-East Asia would be beneficial. The two most populated countries in the world would experience different impacts –India with negative impacts, and China with positive impacts.

• Europe: Climate-related increases in crop yields, of about 5 percent in wheat, are expected mainly in northern Europe; while the largest reductions of all crops, of up to 10 percent, are expected in the Mediterranean region.

• Latin America and the Caribbean: Overall yield production of wheat, rice, maize, and soybean is estimated to decrease by 2.5 to 5 percent. The impact of climate change in Latin America’s productive sectors is estimated to be a 1.3 percent reduction in the region’s GDP for an increase of 2°C in global temperature

• Northern America: Overall, decreased precipitation will create important problems for the United States, restricting the availability of water for irrigation and at the same time increasing water demand for irrigated agriculture. This would affect in particular the western region of the United States; some yield increases are expected in the Great Plains.

• Oceania: As a result of reduced precipitation, water security problems are very likely to intensify, and change land use away from drier areas. This would negatively affect Australia in particular, the major food producing country in the region.

5. The amount of food estimated to be produced in the next decade would not be enough to meet the food requirements of an additional 890 million people estimated to inhabit the world in the next decade.

• Global wheat production vs. demand: 14 percent deficit

Countries with expected increase in production: China, United States, Canada and

Argentina. Countries with expected decrease in production: India, Egypt, Russian Federation, Ukraine, Italy, Pakistan, France, Germany, Iran, Romania, Australia, Turkey, United Kingdom, Kazakhstan, Poland and Spain.

• Global rice production vs. demand: 11 percent deficit

Countries with expected increase in production: China, United States, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Japan, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Republic of Korea, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic.

Countries with expected decrease in production: India, Brazil, Egypt, Nigeria, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Madagascar.

• Global maize production vs. demand: 9 percent deficit

Countries with expected increase in production: China, United States, Indonesia, Canada and Philippines.

Countries with expected decrease in production: India, Brazil, Egypt, Nigeria, Russian Federation, Ukraine, Italy, Argentina, France, Germany, Romania, South Africa, Mexico, Hungary and Serbia.

• Global soybean production vs. demand: 5 percent surplus

Countries with expected increase in production: China, United States, Indonesia, Brazil, Canada, Argentina, Vietnam, Japan, Serbia, Paraguay, Bolivia, Uruguay and Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Countries with expected decrease in production: India, Nigeria, Russian Federation, Ukraine, Italy, Iran and South Africa.

6. As a result of decreased availability of food, prices could increase up to 20 percent. The inevitable consequence would be the increase in the share of hunger, which could reach one in every five people.

The current level of undernourishment in the world is 1 billion people –one in every seven is hungry today. Currently, about 6.5 million children under five die every year of malnutrition and hunger-related diseases –about 18,000 deaths a day.

Within the next decade, these figures could almost double, reaching one in every five people being hungry. At least every other newborn in Africa; one in every four newborns in Asia; and one in every seven newborns in Latin America and the Caribbean would be sentenced to undernourishment and malnutrition.

Impacts on the Agricultural Sector

Agriculture and fisheries are highly dependent on specific climate conditions. Trying to understand the overall effect of climate change on our food supply can be difficult. Increases in temperature and carbon dioxide (CO2) can be beneficial for some crops in some places. But to realize these benefits, nutrient levels, soil moisture, water availability, and other conditions must also be met. Changes in the frequency and severity of droughts and floods could pose challenges for farmers and ranchers. Meanwhile, warmer water temperatures are likely to cause the habitat ranges of many fish and shellfish species to shift, which could disrupt ecosystems. Overall, climate change could make it more difficult to grow crops, raise animals, and catch fish in the same ways and same places as we have done in the past. The effects of climate change also need to be considered along with other evolving factors that affect agricultural production, such as changes in farming practices and technology.

As noted by Dr. Kim Chang-gil of the Korea Rural Economic Institute in a recent research paper, agricultural production is carried out through the selection of crops suitable for the climate of a specific region and application of proper farming methods. Therefore, agriculture is a climate dependent bio-industry with notable regional characteristics.

The publication “The Impact of Climate Change on the Agricultural Sector: Implications of the Agro‐Industry for Low Carbon, Green Growth Strategy and Roadmap for the East Asian Region,” was prepared as a background policy paper for the East Asia Low Carbon Green Growth Roadmap project with funding from the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), under the East Asia Climate Partnership.

“Climate change disturbs the agricultural ecosystem, resulting in the change in agricultural climatic elements such as temperature, precipitation, and sunlight, while further influencing the arable, livestock, and hydrology sectors.”

First of all, the impacts of climate change on the arable and livestock sector are made known by biological changes including the change of flowering and harvesting seasons, quality change, and shift of areas suitable for cultivation. Climate change affects the agricultural ecosystem, giving rise to blights and pests and causing population movement and change in biodiversity. In the livestock sector, climate change brings about biological changes in areas such as fertilization and breeding and also affects the growing pattern of pastures.

Climate change affects the hydrology including underground water level, water temperature, river flow, and water quality of lakes and marshes, by impacting precipitation, evaporation, and soil moisture content. In particular, the increase of precipitation by climate change leads to an increase of outflow while the temperature rise increases evaporation, resulting in the reduction of outflow, Dr. Kim notes.

Negative impacts of global warming include reduced crop quantity and quality due to the reduced growth period following high levels of temperature rise; reduced sugar content, bad coloration, and reduced storage stability in fruits; increase of weeds, blights, and harmful insects in agricultural crops; reduced land fertility due to the accelerated decomposition of organic substances; and increased soil erosion due the increased rainfall.

In addition, each crop requires different climate and environmental conditions to grow. So, if climate change like temperature rise occurs, the boundary and suitable areas for cultivation move north and thus the main areas of production also change. The change in the main areas of production might be as a crisis for certain areas but might be an opportunity for other areas, so it cannot be classified either as a positive or as a negative impact.

“In sum, the impacts of climate change on the agricultural sector have ambivalent characteristics of positive impacts creating opportunities and of negative impacts with costs. Therefore, it is very important to formulate adaptation strategies that can maximize the opportunities and minimize the costs that will lead to sustainable agriculture development.”

Food Industry

Beyond the physical impacts of climate change lie a range of market risks and opportunities that are being driven by changing consumer preferences, supply chain demands and government policies – all in response to the challenge of climate change.

Consumers are becoming increasingly interested in the environmental credentials, amongst other things, of the food and beverage products they buy. This is consistent with a broad and global trend in which consumers are demanding higher standards of quality, transparency and accountability in food and beverage products. This trend can only continue.

As a consequence food-processing companies have to take the effects of emissions from their operations on climate into account.

This may be achieved by energy conservation and substitution of fossil fuels with renewable energy sources in the day-to-day running of their operations. In this context the ideas and concepts proffered here apply mainly to small and medium sized enterprises.

It is worth noting as well that investment in applications to achieve significant energy reduction requires speedy pay back as most companies now have to contend with cutthroat competition due to the financial crisis worldwide and indeed the continuing recession.

Climate change as a result of human activity further exacerbates the problem and now directly affects the development of existing and new food processing facilities. The renewal of existing facilities in energy conservation terms by ‘retro-fitting’ largely depends on what has gone before whereas the planning of new facilities in terms of location, construction design, utility requirements such as energy, water utilization / waste management and packaging recycling can be more strategically planned.

In dealing with the emerging issue of climate change and its potential negative consequences manufacturers have now to be much more proactive. Previously manufacturers that were proactive in the area of utility savings over the past 30 years did so primarily for economic or bottom line reasons.

What can be done?

As noted by Dr. Kim in his paper, in order to accomplish green growth in the agricultural sector, we should create an innovative way to turn inconvenience into a growth engine by leaving existing convenience and inertia behind, and by achieving a shift in thinking among relevant parties, to ensure that inconvenience and hazard can be properly managed.

“For this to happen, an amicable atmosphere should be created with a bold paradigm shift, where the suggestion of various ideas and active discussion can take place.”

 First of all, he notes, it is urgent that we come up with an implementation strategy that allows us to maintain the unique characteristics of agriculture as a green industry, and thereby eventually achieve green growth by actively developing public functions, such as atmospheric purification and environmental protection through agricultural production innovation and clean technology.

“It is particularly necessary to establish green governance where all farmers, relevant organizations and policy makers concerned can work together, where a strong will to implement green growth and an effective execution system are required to accomplish green growth. However, the policy to promote environmentally friendly agriculture itself is not enough to ensure an assured transition toward a low-carbon agricultural system, but reorganization of the overall agricultural system is needed.”

 Above all, agricultural policy and low-carbon environmental policy should be properly integrated so that the concept of green growth in the overall agricultural sector takes root. In order to maximize the policy effectiveness through a proper combination of policy instruments in various relevant sectors, a green innovation system should be established where policymakers, researchers, relevant organizations, farmers and other relevant bodies can have proper understanding of green growth and share their roles.

In addition to that, Dr. Kim observes that a systematic stage-by-stage strategy to develop technology should be devised and implemented on a steady basis so that green technology reduction or absorbing of greenhouse gases in the agricultural sector can be utilized as a growth engine.

“When green growth in the agricultural sector is successfully implemented, agriculture will solidify its position not only as a green industry that manages national land in an environmentally sustainable manner but also as a life industry that supplies safe agricultural products and manages national greenhouse gas emissions.”

As for the food industry, the key is to be prepared. The findings of a report: “Impact of Climate Change on Tasmania’s Food and Beverage Industry” prepared by Pitt & Sherry could equally hold for the food industry across the world.

It notes that the industry needs to be first aware of the likely consequences, physical and financial, of climate change.

“At a minimum, or as part of a risk assessment process, businesses should document their ‘carbon footprint’ and understand the extent to which that footprint creates risks and/or opportunities for their products. Assessing these risks and opportunities requires a market-by-market approach, particularly for exported produce.”

For those businesses with a low carbon footprint, or the ability to achieve this cost effectively, there may be market advantage in disclosing this information to consumers or supply chain partners. The attractiveness of this will depend in part on product positioning and the prospects for gaining market premiums.

“For all businesses, there is almost certainly advantage to be gained by reducing their greenhouse emissions to the greatest extent possible: the business case should consider not only direct exposures, such as energy and transport costs, but also supply chain linkages, future policy settings, market risks and corporate/brand positioning.

Where a high standard of proof is required – whether to meet market, legal or corporate expectations – full life cycle assessment of a product’s environmental characteristics may be justified. Despite the availability of software tools to assist with this process, it can involve significant costs. A risk-managed approach might therefore see such assessment reserved for products believed to possess above-average exposure or, conversely, potential to attract premiums. Assessments could be undertaken on behalf of a whole industry or product class by the relevant industry association.

As the information that such assessments will bring to light will also be valuable to governments, to help identify needs and opportunities for targeted assistance and/or investment promotion, there is a prima facie case for government support for this work. At the same time, businesses must remain accountable for determining their own response to climate change and accept the consequences should they choose not to engage actively in managing the issue, the report notes. 

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Public Transport policies in Korea

First published in The Hindu Business Line, July 25th 
Korea’s traffic policies, beginning with the reform of its public transportation system, and integrated use of information technology, has been acknowledged for its effectiveness and benchmarked by many other countries.

The transport network in Seoul is famed for its impressive standard of operational capacity and efficiency, and for incorporating the latest technology to make commuting convenient.

Before the public transport reforms of 2004, the bus system in Seoul faced severe problems as few people used it, leading to a deficit, that affected the quality of service. The reforms introduced an integrated operation system along with Bus Rapid Transit.

The government introduced what it calls a ‘quasi-public operation system’, under which it manages buses and routes that private companies own and operate, and reimburses bus companies on the basis of kilometres of service instead of operational revenue from passenger trips.

As observed by Lee Jae-joon, Associate Research Fellow, Korea Transport Institute, the most significant change, however, was the application of information technology in bus operations.

IT Innovation

The system than it is in place today enables real-time management of bus operation information and punctuality, and prevents reckless driving. In addition, the Transport Operation and Information Service (TOPIS) functions as a comprehensive traffic management center that gathers and processes all traffic information.

This enables buses to run at definite intervals. The installation of GPS devices on board allows traffic control centres to determine the real-time location of running buses. It helps avoid having buses on the same route running in groups.

“From the passengers’ point of view, it is an innovative service because they can expect buses to arrive within a definite time. Also, a communication system between traffic control centers and drivers was established for quick responses in the case of emergencies,” he noted.

With the rapid spread of smartphones, it is easy to access public transport information by using smartphones. Recently, heating systems were introduced at bus stops, keeping passengers waiting for a bus warm. In addition, ‘U-Shelters’, highly technology-intensive places, connecting IT and weather/air sensors, have been established.

Among other things, these shelters provide useful information on the local area and stores, weather and air quality as well as bus arrivals. There is an interactive kiosk, called ‘Digital View’, at almost every major bus stop and subway station. The kiosks are provided by Daum, a major Korean search portal. The screens display a subway map, a satellite map service, nearby attractions as well as news and entertainment content. It also has a VoIP service (voice over Internet Protocol).

In addition to the digital kiosks, there is a growing number of digital billboards, advertisements and commercial displays, many of which are interactive and touch-screen capable.

Another innovation is the introduction of the smart card system for electronic payment of public transport fares — bus, subway, taxi, etc — and charges for facilities such as parking lots.

The card creates benefits, such as the reduction in waiting time at bus stops and transparent accounting of bus operations. More importantly, as Lee points out, along with the bus reforms, Seoul has an integrated public transport system for subways and buses. Under this new system, fares are based only on distance travelled, regardless of the transport mode

Integrated system

Besides the capital, Seoul, there is also a national integrated transport system that improves the efficiency, integration and connectivity of the network. All expressways in Korea (total length 3,906 km) are equipped with a variety of Integrated Transportation System (ITS) services, including traffic management, public transport service, electronic payment, traffic control centers and traffic information.

ITS currently provides a basic information broadcasting service, incident management service, and freeway traffic flow control service. The traffic management service collects data from roads and running vehicles, controls the traffic flow, and provides travelers with traffic information. Based on real-time information, road users can make a decision on the choice of route to their destinations, alleviating traffic congestion and increasing average speeds.

The automatic traffic enforcement service encourages lawful driving and monitors traffic light violations, speed limit violations, illegal parking, overloading, and bus-only lane violations.

Korea has also introduced an electronic toll collection system, Hi-Pass, which allows drivers to pay highway tolls without stopping. This has been a boon for drivers while improving the efficiency of toll collection.

The Hi-Pass system has been installed at 344 tollgates in South Korea. Currently, 5.6 million vehicles — 50.8 per cent of registered cars — use the non-stop toll payment system.

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Korea: Speeding on the IT, communications superhighway

First published in The Hindu Business Line, July 25th
Korea has one of the world’s most active telecommunications and information technology markets backed by strong support from the Government.

No surprise that Korea was ranked No. 1 among 152 countries surveyed in the ICT Development Index of the International Telecommunication Union in end-2012.

The data rank Korea as the world’s most advanced ICT economy for the sixth year in a row followed by Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Finland. The index is aimed at assessing ICT development routes, digital gaps and growth potentials of each country. The ranking is proof of the Korean Government’s efforts over the years to improve its regulatory environment and to promote policies to advance IT infrastructure.

Korea is one of the fastest growing ICT markets globally with advanced infrastructure and active consumers who adopt new technologies and products quickly. ICT accounts for 17 per cent of Korea’s GDP and 40 per cent of its total exports. The country ranks among the top countries in Internet usage. More than 80 per cent of the population uses the Internet. Practically everyone has a mobile phone and 95 per cent of the households subscribe to broadband Internet.

Today, ICT has changed the way Koreans live. A mobile handset is an essential. All model houses are wired and come with broadband Internet connection. Korean companies, with the support of the Government, are slowly strengthening their position in the global market and consolidating their market share.

Telecom

The telecom market in Korea is fascinating because it is a world mobile leader on many fronts. Korean mobile operators are among the first in the world to offer third- and fourth-generation services. Even as the rest of world is struggling to deploy 3G networks, plans are now on to roll out upgraded 4G services by the second half of the year. Dubbed LTE-A, the new network will offer a significant upgrade from the fourth-generation LTE and will be the first time that a wireless network exceeds the optic local area network (LAN) in data transmission speed.

Korea continues to be a booming mobile market as it innovatively explores the options for value-added services. The market passed the 105 per cent penetration rate mark in 2011, which means many individuals carry more than one mobile phone. According to the latest data, the number of 4G (Long Term Evolution-LTE) smartphone users has surpassed 21 millionand is likely to reach the 32-million level by the year end. This accounts for close to 40 per cent of the total mobile subscribers in the country, and in a country where four out of 10 people use smartphones, the mobile carriers are ramping up efforts to claim a bigger share of the fast growing market.

It helps that Koreans have a fetish for changing their mobile phones every six months. In fact, the country was positioned at the top in terms of mobile phone replacement rate, according to a survey by Strategy Analytics that was conducted in 88 countries worldwide.

Broadband

Where many countries are being challenged with the tasks of improving and making good use of ICT, Korea is known for its rapid and extensive deployment of broadband. The country’s success is due to the far-sighted government initiatives, where strategies put in place are mindful of the point that ICT infrastructure development must be accompanied by investments in the eco-system.

The extensive role of the government in creating demand in broadband through policies is considered as the most remarkable characteristic of Korea’s broadband growth, according to Ahn Jung-mihn of Hallym University,

“The strong bureaucratic approach in the beginning changed to a light-handed approach as the government invited more private sectors participants,” he pointed out.

To build up critical mass, the government initially pushed for an extremely low price for the public sector and free Internet service for schools. The result was a strong pick-up in information technology by the general public in tandem with the education policy.

Market demand further spurred service providers to offer lower prices along with ICT literacy drive across the entire population.

Currently, Koreans have many technology options for broadband in most areas of the country. The most popular connection technology is XDSL followed by Cable connections, LAN and wireless technologies. This strong inter-modal competition has brought down prices and introduced technologies that can serve remote areas. As telecom drove a positive impact on national competitiveness, the government recognized the future needs of a ubiquitous network and more management strategy.

“This interest was reflected in the IT839 Strategy, which is deemed as the most significant strategy in Korea’s overall broadband policy. Under this policy, eight new IT services were introduced to encourage investment in three key network infrastructures that, in turn, promoted the development of nine new growth engines,” noted Prof Dong Hee-shin, Department of Interaction Science, Sungkyunkwan University.

Having completed the first two phases successfully, the government established the ‘Plan for Developing and Promoting Giga-Internet’ that will enable users transmit data at an average speed of 1 gigabyte per second (GBp) through fixed-line connections and maintain a rate of 10 megabytes per second (MBps) on wireless connections, by this year.

Information Technology

The strength of the Korean IT industry has emerged from foresight, product development, and marketing by Korean companies, along with close cooperation with the government. Business government collaboration targeted promising areas for investment and policy support, noted Lee Chi-ho, Senior Research Fellow, Samsung Economic Research Institute.

Anticipating huge growth in LCD panels, Korean firms made massive investments that gave them a strong position when the panel market was ready to take off. Such investments made it easier for Korean firms to rapidly gain ground, in contrast to analog TV, where Korean firms lagged behind their entrenched Japanese counterparts.

By betting heavily on digital TVs, Korean firms were able to outflank their competitors, and exploit the transition to digital broadcasting. The Korean IT industry also focused on large screens and lower operating costs by aggressively investing in LCD panel production facilities. This gave Korean firms an advantage against Japanese companies, who initially focused on high-end, high-definition TVs that failed to reach global consumers. “In semi-conductors, Korean chipmakers raced ahead of their rivals by sustained investment even during contractions in the IT business. Through strenuous efforts to improve production and increase output, Korean companies were able to take the lead in semiconductor miniaturization and price competitiveness.”

In addition, shortened product development cycles and innovations in supply chain management gave Korean makers the flexibility to respond to sudden market changes. Above all, Korean companies developed brand power in emerging economies through diverse marketing and social contributions.

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Cost of living for students in Korea

First published in The Hindu Business Line, July 25th 
South Korea is increasingly seeing international students flocking to its universities for undergraduate, graduate and research programs. There are about 400 national and private universities, some of which have research facilities in several emerging scientific fields.

With many scholarship options available, more Indian students are choosing to study in Korea and the community is slowly increasing in size.

While most choose universities in Seoul, there are also a few who consider other reputed organizations in Daejon, Gyeonggi Province, and Busan.

If you have got admission to a university in Seoul, undoubtedly the first question that pops up in your mind would be the cost of living. While it is true that Seoul is an expensive city, it is still cheaper than most popular student destinations in Europe, Australia and South-East Asia.

Accommodation options

It is ideal to be able to stay on campus in a dormitory, which most scholarships provide for. However, one may also explore options of living outside the campus in a one-room flat or boarding house for students, which will cost more.

While the monthly rent for a 900 sq. ft. furnished apartment in an expensive area of the city is around 2.5 million KRW (1$=1,100 KRW) with a deposit of 10 million KRW, smaller accommodation near universities that cater to students is much cheaper. On a sharing basis, you might have to shell out 300,000-500,000 KRW per month with a deposit of 5 million KRW. Utility bills — gas, electricity, Internet — will put you back by an additional 60,000-100,000 KRW.

Quick public transport

South Korea has a well-developed public transport system with a metro and bus system that is convenient and quick. The basic fare on public transport is 1,150 KRW, and Taxi is 2,400 KRW. It is best to get a travel card (T-card).

Most Korean food is non-vegetarian but one can also find vegetarian food, other international food, fast food as well as Indian restaurants. University campuses have canteens at reasonable rates. Simple Korean meals in small restaurants will cost you around 6,000-10,000 KRW. The University cafeteria may charge you 2,500-3,000 KRW.

Fancier meals may cost about 20,000 KRW and if you are a coffee addict you will have to spend 4,000-5,000 KRW more.

In bars, a bottle of beer is 7,000 KRW and a cocktail is about 10,000 KRW. The cheaper option is buy your beer at convenience stores, where a Korean beer will cost around 1,500 KRW, and imported beer will be double the cost.

Grocery prices

As in most developed countries, the price of daily commodities is high compared to India. If you plan on doing your own cooking, vegetables prices are seasonal but can be expensive depending on the place of sale.

Here’s a quick rundown of the prices of some basic items. A loaf of bread costs 2,500 KRW; a litre of milk: 2,800 KRW; a dozen eggs: 3,500 KRW; 1 kg tomatoes: 8,000 KRW; 1 kg potatoes: 3,000 KRW.

Toothpaste costs around 3000 KRW; shampoo: 7,000 KRW; 1 box of 32 tampons 10,000 KRW, deodorant: 7,000 KRW (very hard to get since Koreans hardly sweat and do not use deodorants);a men's haircut: 10-15000 KRW. Traditional barbershops are cheaper at 6,000 KRW, but are now getting extinct.

A movie ticket on weekends will put you back by 9,000 KRW. But there are many affordable options to sightsee and spend your holidays.

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