The position of South Asia in food security is quite unique as the sub-region is a major producer of food grains in the world and at the same time accounts for a large section of global impoverished population. The sub-region is home to 1 billion living on US$ 2/day (out of the total population of 1.5 billion) and has the highest concentration of malnourished people at 331 million. FAO estimates indicate that by the end of 2010, Asia will account for about half of the world's malnourished population, of which two-thirds will be from South Asia, making malnourishment the biggest challenge to food security in the sub-region. All efforts need to be made to provide support at the regional level to bolster national food security efforts. Regional integration and collective action to foster inter-country partnerships are needed to solve regional food shortages.

This book pulls together all the critical issues relating to food security that individual South Asian countries are facing. The distinguishing feature of this book is that it focuses on the need for increased agricultural trade among these countries as a way of achieving food security rather than on initiatives like SAARC Food Bank. The articles in the volume identify the status of food security in each country and showcase and analyze government initiatives to address the problem, and the recommendations on policy measures in the book are derived from these analyses.