ABSTRACT
The changes in agriculture trade policies in the post-WTO context proved detrimental to most developing economies, especially in the Asian region. One reason is that a large number of these countries started re-orienting their agriculture development policies towards growing non-food or commercial/high value crops. The other reason is that they opt for non-agricultural land use systems that are driven by market forces. In fact, this shift in agricultural policies has resulted in serious food security problems for most of these countries. The severity of the food security challenge became more evident after 2008, when the global economy was severely affected by the financial crisis. The magnitude of the problem was intensified by the crisis, with several developing countries experiencing a severe shortage of food and unprecedented escalation in food prices. During the first five months of 2008, food prices rose from US $385 per tonne during January 2008 to US $873 (US $1 equals INR 50) per ton in May 2008 (World Bank, 2008).
