Making agro-food markets work for ASEAN

ASEAN has a combined population of over 630 million, and is predicted to be the fourth-biggest economy in the world by 2050. As GDP growth rate are expected to remain higher than the world average over the next decade, ASEAN’s engagement with world markets, including agricultural markets, is projected to deepen. However, with resources already stretched, and the impacts of climate change becoming increasing evident, it will become even harder to ensure production keeps pace with rising demand. As such, steps are now being taken by governments to prioritize food security.

On 5th-6th November 2018, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), in collaboration with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), organized the OECD-ASEAN region outreach event, making agro-food markets work for ASEAN in Hanoi, Viet Nam. The 1.5-day event brought together nearly 60 representatives of ASEAN, OECD members and other countries, agricultural experts from the OECD Secretariat and other intergovernmental organisations, producer groups and agribusiness, and researchers.

The event offered an opportunity for ASEAN countries to evaluate and strengthen the process of agricultural policy and trade reform through forward-looking analysis, and to provide policy options for addressing emerging agricultural policy issues, with a focus on the real world needs of policy makers.

The discussions focused on four key topics of concern for ASEAN: (i) the establishment of domestic and regional food safety systems; (ii) ensuring widespread food security in the region, focusing on sustainable rice and fisheries production for food security; (iii) digital technologies and what they mean for agriculture, and (iv) deriving the greatest benefit from global agro-food value chains (GVCs). The event provided a forum for the exchange and sharing of knowledge and best practices in domestic and cross-border food safety regulation, and for the discussion of results of recent analyses undertaken by the OECD Secretariat of relevance to both food security and agro-food GVCs.

Ms. Jodie McAlister, Assistant Secretary of Australian Department of Agriculture and Water Resources noted “there is no single solution to address food security, and each country has to make it own journey based on sound evidence and analysis, but by working together we can build mutually beneficial policy frameworks”.