In November, SIANI held its regional network meeting 2024 in Bangkok, bringing together agrifood actors to explore the urban and rural food systems of South and Southeast Asia. Here are four highlights from the day and a summary of the roundtable discussions.
SIANI’s regional meeting is an event that alters between regions, creating opportunities for participants to meet across sectors and countries. It is part of SIANI’s ongoing efforts to build and strengthen regional networks of agrifood actors looking to improve the food system. Many of the insights shared are also interesting to a broader audience. Scroll down to watch recordings of the meeting.
Rethinking value chains for urban food systems
The Thai capital is home to multiple initiatives to promote urban food production and the city administration is issuing its own certification of food products called Bangkok G. Roongnapa Trikaew from the Bangkok Metro Administration presented the standard, which includes testing for pesticide residues to ensure that products are safe for consumers. The certification creates opportunities for marketing and increased incomes for farmers in Bangkok. Another example is Bangkok Rooftop Farming, a circular economy initiative working with hotels and restaurants to collect and compost waste that is used to grow food to be served to guests or staff.
The value of short value chains and certification was also highlighted by Dr. Ravi Khetarpal from APAARI (Asia-Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutions) in his speech. He described how especially agroecological food production benefits from direct sales, farmers’ markets, and sales to hotels and restaurants. However, he noted that there are challenges such as logistics, consumer awareness, and policy gaps. Aiming for international markets brings added hurdles, including compliance with global standards, and requires a clear market access strategy.
Planning for food security
Varangkanang Nimhutta from Growing Cities Thailand emphasised that urban farming does not only provide income through sales but is also an important contributor to food security at both household and community level, as many struggle with high food prices. Through community vegetable gardens, Growing Cities have noted positive effects on relationships between neighbours, and great benefits for vulnerable groups such as elderly. She also noted that the agricultural area of Bangkok has been decreasing due to city expansion and is now around 10%. Meanwhile, Dr. Rattikarn Khambud representing the Department of Public Works and Town & Country Planning, Ministry of Interior Thailand, showed how cities consider multiple needs in their planning, such as disaster preparedness, food security, and a healthy environment. At her department, green corridors are established to combine these goals in the city planning.
Protecting ecosystems for food security
Healthy ecosystems are vital for food security, but global food systems can often have a negative impact on local ecosystems. Yani Wang, Stockholm Environment Institute, described the connection between deforestation and global food supply chains, citing that 90 – 99 % of the deforestation in the tropics is linked to agriculture. It is however possible to track the impact of for example the production of palm oil imported to Europe through the tool Trase. By using this openly available data, actors can identify areas, commodities, and traders linked with high deforestation risk.
Forests are not only important for biodiversity, but wild plants, animals, and fungi also contribute to food security. Yet, the consumption, knowledge, and recognition of these wild foodsare in decline, said Madhu Ramnath from Non-Timber Forest Products Exchange Programme India. To reverse this trend, his organisation raises awareness of the benefits of wild foods and seeks to strengthen traditional practices and sources of food. They also draw attention to the threats to traditional wild foods posed by, among other things, urbanization, industrial agriculture, and competition for land. A sign of this disconnectedness is the loss of specific terms used in indigenous languages to describe actions connected to sourcing wild foods. Mr. Ramnath provided examples of verbs used by communities central India and described the sense of connection:
“When you dig for your tubers, when you stupefy fish, when you put your hand under a rock for a crab – these are very intimate ways of understanding the forest, very intimate ways of knowing your environment. With the declining knowledge of forest foods, many of these words slip out of the lexicon.”
The way forward
The SIANI regional meeting clearly demonstrated that agricultural production does not have to lead to uniform landscapes. Dr. Kim Soben from the Faculty of forestry at the Royal University of Agriculture in Cambodia, and Robert Finlayson, from CIFOR-ICRAF, presented their work in the Mekong Expert Group on Agroforestry. Dr. Soben showed that there is great diversity in how such systems may be designed and highlighted the importance of adapting them to the local conditions. In Cambodia, models for integrated farming systems tailored to different landscapes have been developed to support farmers in the design and implementation of such systems.
Another example of how production can be combined with the support ecosystem services was shared by Raveendran Kannan, member of the SIANI expert group on pollination. In Tamil Nadu in southern India, honey production has been introduced as a way of improving incomes and supporting diets while also providing an alternative to harvesting wild honey and supporting pollination.
In his reflections on the day, Sridhar Dharmapuri from FAO’s Asia office highlighted the paradox that despite high production of rice, fruits, vegetables, and animal products, many households in the region cannot afford a healthy diet. However, there are several positive developments. Cities are advancing in urban food production, and several countries have developed national roadmaps linked to the UN Food Systems Summit. Based on the national needs and priorities, the roadmaps address food security, nutrition, sustainable food production, and climate change challenges.
Roundtable discussions
During the day, participants discussed what collaborations are needed to improve food systems, and the role of networks in food system transformation. A summary of the discussions is found here.