Jakarta, 26 September 2022: The global community’s transition into a post-pandemic world has been met with additional challenges resulting from climate change, ongoing supply chain disruptions, and international conflicts. At the centre of these problems are food security issues which have prompted policymakers to take swift and effective measures. Implementing the right policies that can answer this pressing issue has become crucial as basic food costs have risen by nearly 50% since the start of 2021. This imposes an additional burden on the world’s poorest that are still reeling from the devastating impact of the pandemic where the UN estimates that approximately 118 million people have become chronically hungry since the start of the pandemic. Food security is directly linked to the agriculture and food sector which has been significantly affected during the pandemic. Trade and regional integration as well as trade and sustainable development are influential in ensuring food supply and food security.

This year’s ASEAN on Point Public Forum Series covered the issue of food security in Southeast Asia. The event, hosted by the ASEAN Secretariat and the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia, sought to continue the conversation from the first ASEAN on Point discussion on sustainable food and agriculture which focused on agricultural productivity and sustainability. This latest forum centred on matters of trade, infrastructure, logistics, and the threat of food nationalism in addition to providing policy recommendations to facilitate the resiliency of ASEAN’s agriculture and food sector in overcoming future crises.

Prof Paul Teng, Managing Director & Dean, NIE International Pte. Ltd., Nanyang Technological University Singapore moderated the discussion between Dr Risti Permani, Senior Lecturer at the School of Agriculture and Food Sciences at the University of Queensland and Dr Ramon Clarete, Chief-of-Party B-SAFE Project, US Department of Agriculture.