Manila - An official of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on Wednesday urged South-East Asian countries to prepare programmes to mitigate the negative impact of the global financial crisis on food security.

Purushottan Mudbhary, chief of the Policy Assistance Branch of the FAO regional office, said food supply would not be a problem as production was expected to be "quite good" for the rest of the year and 2009.

But he warned that "the problem is the access."

"Even if we have enough food, the access could be a problem if they don't have the purchasing power in the market," he told reporters during a food security meeting in Manila organized by the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the United Nations.

"In this regard, this global financial crisis can have a negative effect on food security," he added.

Mudbhary urged ASEAN governments to prepare programmes, such as free distribution or food-for-work, to ease the problem.

"If there are supplies available and people don't have the capacity to purchase, the government has certain responsibility to introduce social safety nets to ensure that the population has access to the minimum (food) required during this difficult time," he said.

Mudbhary noted that ASEAN countries - Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar (Burma) - could already feel the impact of the crisis with their exports slowing down.

"These are expected to have a negative effect on the labour force, especially those working in factories," he said. "When their employment is lost, it will have an effect on their purchasing power of food." (dpa)