Food prices and food security in South Asia

The recent trends of rising world food prices have received wide attention in South Asia due to their potential impact on the food security of its population. Although countries in the region have achieved near food self-sufficiency at the national level, most of them continue to be net importers of food in the global market. Due to increased globalisation and trade liberalisation within the region as well as with the rest of the world, the region is more vulnerable to international economic trends, and, as a a result, the poor and the food-insecure in the region are exposed to the vagaries of international price fluctuations.