Rice Bowl Index Half-Year Update: Achieving Food Security Remains Challenging

WASHINGTON, DC--(Marketwired - Apr 11, 2013) - Frontier Strategy Group (FSG), co-developer with Syngenta of the Rice Bowl Index, announces the release of a half-year update of the Rice Bowl Index. The Rice Bowl Index assesses the capacity of 14 countries in Asia Pacific to address the challenge of food security. Key findings of the half-year update include:

• Nine of 14 countries showed a decline in overall food security robustness, while three improved and two remained unchanged
  
  
• The areas of greatest fluctuation were Farm-Level Factors and Demand and Price
  
  
• Managing volatility must be a priority for any policy actions seeking to improve food security

"The update affirms that Farm-Level Factors in particular are a major contributor to a country's overall level of food security, and that Demand and Price is inherently volatile across the region," said Professor Paul Teng, Advisory Board member and Senior Fellow (Food Security) at the Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. "The metrics associated with these negative impacts were largely consistent across countries -- falling levels of personal disposable income, increases in the consumer price index and growth in oil imports. Combined, these factors are likely to result in higher food prices and increases in percentage of income allocated to food purchases."

"As the Asia Pacific region is home to more than 60 percent of world's population, it is critically important to monitor the state of the region's food security. We feel the Rice Bowl Index helps foster the type of constructive, solutions-oriented dialogue that is essential to ensure food resources become more secure and sustainable," said Richard Leggett, Advisory Board member and CEO of FSG.

The Rice Bowl Index is designed to facilitate productive dialogue, collaboration and action between governments, the private sector and other key stakeholders in the area of food security. It is a quantitative and qualitative diagnostic tool which examines the determinants of food security; intended to translate the complexity of food security into an opportunity for action, the Rice Bowl Index assesses how robust a country's capacity is to address the challenges of food security. The Index is the result of a collaborative effort between Syngenta, FSG and Professor Paul Teng.

About Frontier Strategy Group

Frontier Strategy Group is a leading information services firm providing decision-critical solutions to senior executives responsible for emerging markets. Over 2,000 senior executives partner with FSG for ongoing access to emerging markets analytics, research, and our expert advisory community. FSG is headquartered in Washington D.C. with regional offices in Singapore, London, and Miami. For more information, visit www.FrontierStrategyGroup.com or follow FSG on Twitter @FrontierStrtGrp.