London, 16 September 2011: Reuters

Buoyed by rising populations and wealth in countries like China, India and Indonesia, and as people switch to more meat-based diets, agri-chemicals company Syngenta believes that feed grains will climb 50% by 2050. The same emerging economies however, hold the key to increasing annual yields by the minimum 1.5% needed to meet this rise in demand, Andrew McConville, head of corporate affairs at Syngenta Asia Pacific told Reuters.

"By 2050, we see grains demand increasing by around 50 percent from where it is now, and of that, only 25 percent of it will be food grains (like) rice and wheat," said McConville, speaking ahead of the SE Asia US Agricultural Cooperators Conference in Bali from Sept. 18.

"Seventy percent of the grain demand will be driven by changes in dietary patterns -- people consuming more meat," he added. "To grow a kilo of beef takes 7 kilos of corn, to grow a kilo of pork it's five."

In southeast Asia, Indonesia's wheat grain imports are expected to rise to around 6 million tonnes in 2011 from 5.5 million tonnes last year, due to higher incomes, according to the Indonesian Wheat Flour Mills Association. Behind Indonesia's rapidly rising wheat imports stands a booming economy, set to grow about 6.5 percent this year, boosted by domestic consumption and mineral exports.

Appetites are changing, with bread-based breakfast favoured by the upper middle classes and noodles preferred by the middle classes, a shift away from the previous breakfast staple, rice. Southeast Asia now accounts for about 12 percent of global wheat imports, up from 9 percent in 2009.

Educating small-holder farmers and giving them access to current technologies, coupled with investments in infrastructure, are key for meeting rising demand in Asian countries, Singapore-based McConville said. "Rice yields on average in developing countries are 40 percent lower (than developed)," he said. "We've got to understand the needs of farmers much better."

"There are also very important investments in infrastructure -- roads, ports, storage," he added. "Governments are finally just beginning to understand the problem." Swiss agri-chemicals company Syngenta makes products to kill weeds and bugs as well as genetically-modified seeds.

"One of the biggest constraints on rice production in Asia, particularly India, is labour or labour availability because it's got alternate uses now and is going to the cities," said McConville.

" "We've looked at how we can introduce mechanised planting -- that's nothing new -- they've been doing it in Japan for years," he added. "We've (also) developed a new seedling transplant service, which allows the farmer to plant the seedlings earlier."

Ends --

Reuters - for Commodities Now.