From supporting agriculture and the trade of farm goods, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) has in recent years turned its attention to enhancing the agricultural sector to ensure food security for the region and the world.
Under this year’s theme of "Open.Connect. Balance." host economy Thailand has been seeking to realise sustainable food production.
Thailand’s Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives hosted the 7th APEC Food Security Ministerial Meeting virtually in August 2022. The meeting centred around the Food Security Roadmap Towards 2030, introduced to the forum last year, with discussions on how to advance toward the aims of an open, fair, transparent, productive, sustainable and resilient APEC food system.
At the meeting, Thailand declared it would promote food security in the region by implementing five policies covering food safety and trade facilitation, life quality improvement, natural resource sustainability, promotion of innovation and technology in the food and agricultural sector, and creation of balance in the economy, society and environment.
These policies were well-received by ministers participating in the forum and were included in the meeting’s resulting statement.
In Thailand, the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives has committed to driving forward the Food Security Roadmap through its 3S policy which consists of safety, security and sustainability.
The concept is being used to guide food safety and nutrition, the promotion of technological implementations within the agricultural industry and Big Data integration of soil, irrigation, climate change and diseases in plants and animals’ information.
Most importantly, the ministry is putting several policies into practice based on the Bio-Circular-Green (BCG) Economy model, instilling sustainability and environmental balance into any progress made in the sector.
At the 7th APEC Food Security Ministerial Meeting, ministers jointly voiced agreement to foster active engagement of public-private partnerships to enhance food security in the region. Their statement encouraged APEC member economies to empower micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, women, youth and other groups with untapped economic potential to "ensure that agriculture is a viable livelihood that sustainably meets the demand for food and agricultural products.
