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Guest Column

As ASEAN faces escalating food insecurity from trade disruptions and climate impacts, immediate implementation is essential in four key areas: boosting intra-regional trade, enhancing cross-sector enablers like channelling research and development (R&D) to climate-smart and digital inclusion, diversifying food stockpiles beyond rice, and protecting regional environmental commons.

As ASEAN's Vision and Strategic Plan on Food, Agriculture, and Forestry (FAF) 2016-2025 concludes, the region faces heightened food insecurity amidst global trade disruptions and escalating climate risks. While ASEAN has established a robust policy framework aligned with global sustainability goals, the imperative now is to transition from policy to tangible action.

Currently, global supply chains are being upended by hefty trade tariffs by the USand subsequent reciprocal responses. ASEAN is not immune, particularly in the food and agriculture sector. The US is ASEAN’s second largest destination market after China, principally for palm oil, coffee, rice, and seafood. It is also ASEAN’s largest external import origin for food and agricultural products, particularly soybeans and wheat.

Concurrently, climate change poses a severe threat to food production. The ISEAS Yusof Ishak Southeast Asia Climate Outlook Survey has found that seven in ten indicated they experienced some form of food insecurity in 2024, compared to six in ten in 2023. Furthermore, vegetable and legume production- key to a healthy diet—could reduce by up to 35 per cent by 2100 at current greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions trajectories. In Southeast Asia, arable croplands could reduce by minimally 10 percent by 2028 due to climate change. This underscores the urgent need for enhanced regional resilience.

Under the abovementioned Plan, ASEAN has made substantial strides in policy development, including guidelines for sustainable agriculture, decarbonisation, responsible investment, agricultural insurance, and agroecology transition. The ASEAN Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserves (APTERR) and the ASEAN Food Security Information System (AFSIS) have also been strengthened. While there is a myriad of action items, ASEAN’s unique position makes it the prime body to address these four areas: increase trade, institute cross-sector enablers, diversify stockpiles and protect the commons.

Four Priority Areas for Implementation

Increased trade, particularly intra-ASEAN trade, is vital for mitigating supply chain vulnerabilities. The potential goal could be to increase intra-ASEAN trade from its current stagnant level of under 30 percent to levels comparable to the EU’s at 70 percent. Achieving this requires greater harmonisation of quality standards, certification and accreditation to improve flow, particularly those pertaining to halal, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, and pesticide minimum residue level (MRL). Expanding Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), Good Animal Husbandry Practices (GAHP), and Good Aquaculture Practices (GAqP) among the region’s $100 million smallholder farmers is also crucial. Facilitating multilateral trade agreements with provisions against non-tariff barriers/ measures and unilateral export bans can further stabilize the sector.

Secondly, ASEAN could expand cross-sector enablers to hasten climate-smart adoption and market inclusion. One enabler for climate smart adoption is channelling R&D funding towards resilient inputs, regenerative solutions, and waste reduction. Currently, potential adopters face choice paralysis with the myriad climate solutions; ASEAN could channel funds to identify those most effective to help make the choices easier. Market inclusion could be hastened through digitalisation. ASEAN’s Guidelines on Promoting the Utilization of Digital Technologies for ASEAN Food and Agricultural Sector (2021) provides valuable solutions, but it misses inclusion of generative AI architecture or Large Language Models (LLMs) contextualised to Southeast Asia. These would democratise knowledge for millions of non-native English-speaking farmers, allowing greater access to valuable information and services in their preferred languages. Initiatives like the Southeast Asian Languages in One Network (SEA-LION) are a step in the right direction, but ASEAN should also lead to put robust safeguards in place.

Thirdly, ASEAN needs to promote stockpiling diversification in the region. Currently, ASEAN lacks strategies beyond rice security; in times of stress, the region will require a diversity of food products for the health and well-being of the population. ASEAN also then needs to work on simplifying the protocols for release of emergency food reserves.

A fourth area which ASEAN is uniquely placed to lead is that of safeguarding the region’s commons—terrestrial and marine forests, mangroves, and coral reefs—which are vital for mitigation, adaptation, and biodiversity protection. One way is to promote a collective ASEAN pride and identity towards some of the region’s irreplaceable treasures. The first could be the coral triangle, also known as the Amazon of the Sea and home to 75 percent of the world’s coral species. Its greater part sits between Indonesia, Philippines, and Malaysia; it is crucial to the region’s fisheries but is highly at risk. ASEAN’s designating it a collective common may raise responsibility (and perhaps funding) to conserve it. ASEAN’s Study on Nature-based Solutions (NbS) across forest, bare land and coastal ecosystems (2023) also provides a foundation for engaging various ministries to protect these “commons,” and ASEAN may wish to promote collective agreements to identify, secure, monitor and conserve these commons.

Moving Forward: Resources and Urgency

Implementing these strategies requires substantial resources. ASEAN should explore funding mechanisms beyond member state contributions, including partnerships with dialogue and development partners, as well as the private and people sector. A drawcard could be that these efforts would contribute to global food security.

Time is not a luxury that ASEAN has, and it must implement measures to stave off the growing challenges to food security. By focusing on trade, enablers, stockpiling, and protection of the commons, ASEAN can build a resilient and sustainable FAF sector.

Ms Elyssa Kaur Ludher is a food security expert and urban planner. She is currently a Visiting Fellow at ISEAS- Yusof Ishak Institute and concurrently an advisor at MORROW Intelligence, a data-driven, foresights urban solutions company.

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The views expressed in the article are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy or the National University of Singapore.

Image Credit: rawpixel

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