Special Volume, Issue 1/December 2015 Achieving …admin.thcasean.org/assets/uploads/file/2015/12/PB_Vol2_Issue8.pdf · Special Volume, Issue 1/December 2015 INTRODUCTION “Food

The Habibie CenterASEAN Studies Program

ASEAN BRIEFS

Special Volume, Issue 1/December 2015

INTRODUCTION

“Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food which meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life” - The Declaration of the World Food Summit in 1996.

As ASEAN moves towards an integrated community, many sectors in the region are busy improving and implementing new policies in order to support the regional project. This regional integration is increasingly challenged by the rapid changes in the global landscape. Some argue that the genuine success of a regional development project relies on its ability to address the most basic challenge: hunger and poverty.1 Therefore, the issue of food security is being taken into account by ASEAN, particularly as it is considered as one of the most pressing issue in the region.

The Habibie Center

The Habibie CenterASEAN Studies Program ASEAN Briefs

Project Supervisor: Rahimah Abdulrahim (Executive Director) Hadi Kuntjara (Deputy Director for Operations)

Head of ASEAN Studies Program/Editor: A. Ibrahim Almuttaqi

Researcher: Fina Astriana Muhamad Arif Askabea Fadhilla

Head of International Relations: Wirya Adiwena

Finance and Administration: Mila Oktaviani

Design and Publication: Rahma Simamora

The Habibie Center - ASEAN Studies ProgramJl. Kemang Selatan no.98, Jakarta 12560 Indonesia( P ): +62 21 7817211 ( F ): +62 21 7817212

ASEAN Briefs is a regular publication about current developments on ASEAN regionalism, especially in the Political-Security, Economic as well as Socio - Cultural Pillars.

Achieving Food Security in ASEAN

ASEAN Studies Program ASEAN Briefs 2 The Habibie Center

ASEAN Cooperation on Food Security

Each of the ASEAN member states has their own strategy in responding to food crisis due to their agricultural industry. Some countries, like Thailand and Vietnam take on the role of rice exporters, while others like Indonesia and the Philippines are rice importers. Myanmar is working its way up to regain the agricultural competitiveness it had in the 1950s when the country led the region in terms of rice exports. Meanwhile, Brunei and Singapore are rice importers but notably imports only the best quality ones. Further, Singapore has also started investing in order to become the ASEAN center for biotechnology.2 Although different in nature, these approaches are projected to achieve an ASEAN-wide framework for food security.

ASEAN has provided an array of platforms in order to achieve food security in the region. In the aftermath of the 2007/2008 food price crisis, the 2009 ASEAN Summit put food security as a permanent and high policy priority. On the same occasion, ASEAN also formalized the ASEAN Integrated Food Security (AIFS) Framework 2009-2013 to provide a systematic guideline for cooperation in food security among ASEAN member states. The AIFS covers a set of measures to ensure long-term food security in ASEAN and improve the livelihoods of farmers in ASEAN.3

As for dealing with the issue of climate change and its effects on food security, ASEAN has established the ASEAN Climate Change Initiative (ACCI) and the ASEAN Multi-sectoral Framework on Climate Change: Agriculture and Forestry toward Food Security (AFCC). Through these platforms, ASEAN member states can exchange knowledge and information to strengthen the region in adapting to the changing climate. Meanwhile ACCI serves as an instrument for ASEAN member states to push a common agenda in international climate negotiation.4

Recently, the ASEAN Secretariat in collaboration with the World Economic Forum also launched “Grow Asia” which aims to achieving 10 million farmers in the region by 2020, as well as increasing their productivity, profitability, and environmental sustainability by 20%.5 It is indeed important for ASEAN to work with other stakeholders to resolve the food security issues. As such, ASEAN should not only strengthen internal cooperation but also external cooperation.

Key Challenges in Achieving Food Security

According to the FAO, the current food security situation in ASEAN should be analysed from four dimensions: (1) availability; (2) access; (3) utilization; and (4) stability.

In terms of availability, each country needs to ensure its food supply to feed their growing population. Currently, the combined population of ASEAN reached more than 600 million people. The growing population is a result of declining mortality rates, increasing life expectancy, and a younger population.

According to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the population in Southeast Asia will grow by 18% to more than 700 million between 2010 – 2030.6 The increasing population will have a long-term impact on the increasing demand for food. Thus, feeding the entire population will be a challenging task for ASEAN Leaders. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that the issue of food security is not merely giving food to people but also about reducing malnutrition among the population.

The availability of food depends very much on food production. However, land degradation, deforestation, and water pollution, may disrupt that production. As Southeast Asian economies grow, ASEAN member states tend to develop many infrastructures such as roads and buildings which require land clearing. This leads to deforestation and land degradation thus reducing the land available for agricultural purpose.

Beside degraded resources, severe weather also affects food production. Indeed, as one of the most vulnerable region to climate change, ASEAN is no stranger to its negative impact such as droughts, floods, typhoons, rising sea levels, and long periods of heat waves. These natural disasters undoubtedly create disruptions to food production in the region. Lassa and Tian mentioned that Southeast Asian food systems are vulnerable to future climate extremes as they become more frequent and intense.7

Smallholder and family farming productivity also affects food availability in the region. However, they face many challenges such as lacking access to land, making them landless. In addition, crop yields from their land are easily affected by climate change thus reduce their productivity. Another problem is lack of access to regional and global markets because their products cannot meet the standards determined in trade agreements. These problems have caused difficulties for smallholders and family farmers.8 Therefore, it is important for governments to empower smallholder famers as they can successfully reduce poverty, such as what took place in Thailand and Vietnam.

Moreover, access to food in each country can be seen from the prevalence of undernourishment indicators. Referring to data from FAO, only Brunei Darussalam and Malaysia have a prevalence of undernourishment rate of less than 5%, which means they are close to eradicating hunger. Over the last 10 years, the prevalence of undernourishment rate in Indonesia has halved from 18.8% in 2005-2007 to 7.6% by 2014-2016. Among the other ASEAN member states (AMS), Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Cambodia have a high prevalence


of undernourishment rate range of 14.2% − 18.5% by 2014-2016. Almost all member states in ASEAN have made good progress towards meeting the international goal towards reducing the number of undernourished people.

Food security is also highly correlated with securing food access. One of the main determinants of access is food prices. In order to ensure people are able to buy food, governments should reduce price volatility. From 2005 - 2014, price volatility in most ASEAN member states was not too high. However, Cambodia and the Philippines experienced volatility in certain years. Price volatility in the Philippines hit its highest record in 2011 as a result of natural disasters hitting the country and reducing food production. According to the Citizens’ Disaster Response Center (CDRC), the Philippines was the world’s most disaster-hit country in 2011.9

These conditions will undoubtedly continue to affect the food supply and the price of food. Therefore, food prices will still remain volatile and relatively high for the foreseeable future. These conditions are also expected to become common. In 2007/2008 when the food crisis happened, the continuously rising food prices and unpredictable food supply made significant groups of people unable to meet their sufficient daily nutrition

Table 1. Prevalence of undernourishment rate in ASEAN Member States (in percentage)

Source : FAOSTAT (2015)

intake. It should be noted that for the poor, food is a large part of their total budget and so any increase in food price will only increase the burden on their finances.

The food crisis in 2007-2008 indeed led to thousands of people to take to the streets demanding actions and solutions from their governments. As such lack of food supplies can create social instability and is a major factor that can lead to social conflict and political violence.10 Food security is thus undoubtedly crucial to ensuring not only human security but also regional stability.

Beside food prices, adequate infrastructure is important for ensuring the people can access food. Road density is one of the indicators that provide information on the possibility of physical access to markets. Among all

ASEAN member states, Singapore has the highest road density which implies that the people in Singapore can easily access the market. On the other hand, Myanmar has the lowest road density of around 4-6 km per 100 square km of land area. Poor infrastructure will likely become a burden for people to access food. Although infrastructure development may lead to reducing land available for agricultural purpose, it is also important

Table 2. Domestic food price volatility in ASEAN Member States



when it comes to ensuring access to food. Such trade-off should be carefully managed by governments.

Lastly, food security is not only about food availability nor food access but also food utilization. It is important to ensure that people take in adequate levels of nutrients. In addition, it is important to remember the link between nutrition absorption and food utilization with water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH). Inadequate sanitation and lack of safe drinking water may have negative impacts on access to proper nutrition as it may lead to open defecation and increase in diarrheal diseases, thus preventing nutrient absorption and leading to malnutrition.11 In the end, food security may not be fully achieved without considering WASH.

In the case of southeast Asian countries, food utilization varies widely. More than 90% of the population in Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam has access to clean water while, Cambodia and Lao PDR are listed at the bottom. Meanwhile, in terms of access to basic sanitation, Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia are leading with more than 93% people having access to basic sanitation. On the other hand, people in Cambodia and Indonesia still have limited access to basic sanitation. The persisting gap in access to basic sanitation implies the differences in sanitation system in each country.

Recommendation

Based on FAO data, some indicators show that ASEAN member states have made relatively good improvements in achieving food security in the past years. However, there are still rooms for improvement. In addition, challenges in achieving food security in the region still remain and will only become more complicated and more severe.

Accordingly, there are some recommendations that governments should follow to achieve food security in ASEAN:

First, each ASEAN member state needs to build a more sustainable and resilient agricultural sector. This can be

done with the support of research and development in order to create more innovative ways to reduce the negative impacts of climate change. Moreover, agricultural research and department will also help the industry in reducing food-loss after the harvest.

Second, each ASEAN member state, especially for countries such as Indonesia and Cambodia, should build better access to water and basic sanitation that will improve food utilization in the region. In addition, better infrastructure such as roads that can allow people to access market should be developed. Securing food access is important to achieving food security.

Third, each ASEAN member state should improve smallholder and family farming productivity. One of the solutions to improving productivity is by providing more access to financial sources and to markets through more inclusive markets. Furthermore, governments should also promote the use of agricultural biotechnology among smallholder and family farming to increase efficiency in their production.

Fourth, each ASEAN member state needs to promote more investment in the agricultural sector. Governments should provide incentives for agricultural investments in order to attract more investment.

Fifth, ASEAN need to strengthen its policy coordination and cooperation at the regional and also global level. ASEAN should strengthen its cooperation with other related stakeholders such as international organizations (FAO, International Fund for Agricultural Development, and World Food Programme), private sectors, and smallholders farmers.

References

Amref Health Africa. (n.d). “Safe Water and Sanitation for Food Security and Improving Child Health. Re-trieved from: http://amref.org/news/news/safe-water-and-sanitation-essential-for-food-security-and-improving-child-health/.

No Countries 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 20111 Brunei Darussalam N.A. N.A. N.A. 58.4 59.4 60.2 51.4 51.5 53.1 52.5 54.22 Cambodia N.A. N.A. N.A. 21.1 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. 21.9 N.A. N.A.3 Indonesia 18.5 18.7 18.7 19.5 20.5 21.3 22.1 22.9 24.9 25.5 26.04 Lao People's

Democratic RepublicN.A. 13.8 13.2 N.A. 14.3 14.9 15.6 14.8 16.7 20.1 17.3

5 Malaysia 21.7 21.8 23.4 23.5 26.3 27.2 35.6 37.1 40.9 43.7 47.06 Myanmar 4.3 4.3 4.3 4.4 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.6 4.8 5.1 5.67 Philippines 67.3 67.3 67.3 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A.8 Singapore 456.5 457.0 453.9 456.1 462.7 463.4 467.7 468.3 472.7 474.3 477.99 Thailand N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. 35.1 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A.10 Viet Nam N.A. N.A. N.A. 41.7 N.A. 45.8 48.3 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A.

Table 3. Road Density in 10 AMS (per 100 square km of land area)



Asian Development Bank. (2014). “ASEAN 2030 Toward a Borderless Economic Community”. Tokyo : Asian Development Bank Institute.

ASEAN Sustainable Agrifood Systems. (n.d). “Food Secu-rity”. Retrieved from: http://www.asean-agrifood.org/what-we-do/food-security/.

Bernave, Riza. (2013). “Food (in)security in ASEAN”. Oc-tober 18, retrieved from: http://www.thejakarta-post.com/news/2013/10/18/food-security-asean.html

Citizens’ Disaster Response Center. (2012). “Philippines is world’s most disaster-hit country in 2011”. April 24, retrieved from: http://www.cdrc-phil.com/philippines-is-worlds-most-disaster-hit-country-in-2011/

Desker, Barry, et. al. (2013). “Thought/Issue Paper on ASEAN Food Security: Towards a more Comprehensive Framework”. ERIA Discussion Paper 2013-20. Retrieved from: http://www.eria.org/ERIA-DP-2013-20.pdf.

FAO. (2015). “Food Security Indicators”. October 12, retrieved from: http://www.fao. org/economic/ess/ess-fs/ess-fadata/en/#.VkrLL-dIrKM8.

Manila Times. (2015). “ASEAN Ministers Tackle Food Security”. September 5, retrieved from: http://www.manilatimes.net/asean-ministers-tackle-food-security/216471/

Myanmar Times. (2015). “Small is beautiful: Address-ing the challenges of smalholders farmers”. May 7, retrieved from: http://www.mmtimes.com /index.php/opinion/10270-asean.html.

Tian, Goh and Lassa, Jonatan A. (2015), “Get ready for future crisis in food production in Southeast Asia”, Janury 17, retrieved from: http://www.thejakartapost.com /news/2015/01/17/get-ready-future-crisis-food-production-southeast-asia.html.

World Economic Forum. (2015). “ASEAN Leaders Launch Grow Asia to Boost Food Security and Farmers”. April 21, retrieved from: https://agenda.weforum.org /news/asean-leaders-launch-grow-asia-to-boost-food-security-and-farmers/

Endnotes

1 Riza Bernave, (2013), “Food (in)security in ASEAN, ” October 18, retrieved from: http://www.theja-kartapost.com/news/2013/10/18/food-security-asean.html

2 Manila Times, (2015), “ASEAN Ministers Tackle Food

Security,” September 5, retrieved from: http://www.manilatimes.net/asean-ministers-tackle-food-security/216471/

3 ASEAN Sustainable Agrifood Systems, (n.d), “Food Security,” retrieved from: http://www.asean-agri-food.org/what-we-do/food-security/

4 Bernave, op.cit.

5 World Economic Forum, (2015), “ASEAN Leaders Launch Grow Asia to Boost Food Security and Farmers”, April 21, retrieved from: https://agenda.weforum.org/news/asean-leaders-launch-grow-asia-to-boost-food-security-and-farmers/.

6 Asian Development Bank, (2014), “ASEAN 2030 To-ward a Borderless Economic Community”. Tokyo : Asian Development Bank Institute.

7 Goh Tian and Jonatan A. Lassa, (2015), “Get ready for future crisis in food production in Southeast Asia”, Janury 17, retrieved from: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/17/get-ready-future-crisis-food-production-southeast-asia.html.

8 Myanmar Times, (2015), “Small is beautiful: Ad-dressing the challenges of smalholders farmers”, May 7, retrieved from: http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/opinion/10270-asean.html.

9 Citizens’ Disaster Response Center, (2012), “Philip-pines is world’s most disaster-hit country in 2011”, April 24, retrieved from: http://www.cdrc-phil.com/philippines-is-worlds-most-disaster-hit-coun-try-in-2011/.

10 Barry Desker, et. Al, (2013),“Thought/Issue Paper on ASEAN Food Security: Towards a more Com-prehensive Framework.” ERIA Discussion Paper 2013-20, retrieved from: http://www.eria.org/ERIA-DP-2013-20.pdf

11 Amref Health Africa, (n.d.), “Safe Water and Sanita-tion Essential for Food Security and Improving Child Health”, retrieved from: http://amref.org/news/news/safe-water-and-sanitation-essential-for-food-security-and-improving-child-health/.

About ASEAN Studies ProgramThe ASEAN Studies Program was established on February 24, 2010, to become a center of excellence on ASEAN related issues, which can assist in the development of the ASEAN Community by 2015. The Habibie Center through its ASEAN Studies Program, alongside other institutions working towards the same goal, hopes to contribute to the realization of a more people-oriented ASEAN that puts a high value on democracy and human rights.

The objective of the ASEAN Studies Program is not merely only to conduct research and discussion within academic and government circles, but also to strengthen public awareness by forming a strong network of civil society in the region that will be able to help spread the ASEAN message. With the establishment of ASEAN Studies Program, The Habibie Center aims to play its part within our capabilities to the ASEAN regional development.

About Talking ASEANTalking ASEAN is a monthly public dialogue held at The Habibie Center in Jakarta. Covering a wide array of is-sues related to ASEAN, Talking ASEAN addresses topics of: Economic Integration, Socio-cultural, & Democracy, human rights and regional peace, among others. Featuring local and visiting experts, Talking ASEAN is one of a series of twelve dialogues regularly held each month and open to a target audience consisting of ASEAN of-ficials, foreign ambassadors & diplomats, academics, university students, businesses, and the media.

More recently, The Habibie Center’s ASEAN Studies Program has expanded its successful Talking ASEAN public discussion program and will be holding it in all ASEAN countries. The goal of this expansion is to strengthen the dialogue among various stakeholders at the policy making and grass-root levels to increase their awareness, knowledge, and understanding of issues facing ASEAN as it deepens its integration. The expanded format pro-vides a platform from which ASEAN policy makers can interact with CSOs, academics, media, and other relevant stakeholders as well as provides a space for discussion on pressing regional issues in ASEAN.

The Habibie Center was founded by Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie and family in 1999 as an independent, non-governmental, non-profit organisation. The vision of The Habibie Center is to create a structurally democratic society founded on the morality and integrity of cultural

and religious values.

The mission of The Habibie Center are first, to establish a structurally and culturally democratic society that recognizes, respects, and promotes human rights by undertaking study and advocacy of issues related to democratization and human rights, and second, to increase the effectiveness of the management of human

resources and the spread of technology.

ASEAN STUDIES PROGRAM

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Cover Image : theforeignobserver.com


OUR PUBLICATIONS


ASEAN BRIEFS

Migrant Workers RightsThe AEC 2015 and Free Movement of Labor: Case Studies of Indonesia and the Philippines

Issue 3/April 2014

SUMMARY

This issue of ASEAN Briefs examines the issue of the ASEAN Economic Community 2015, the free movement of labor and migrant workers’ rights. In particular, it addresses the concerns that the upcoming ASEAN Economic Community, which is premised on the free movement of labor, will bring about a boom in the number of migrant workers moving in the region. However with the vast majority of ASEAN’s migrant workers operating in the informal sector (and very little to indicate that this will change once the ASEAN Economic Community is in place), there are serious worries that incidents of migrant workers’ abuse will worsen.

As such this issue of ASEAN Briefs seeks to explore how ASEAN intends to cope with these serious worries, what progress it has made towards addressing those worries, and how has its member-states sought to implement the efforts of ASEAN in managing labor migration. This was done by examining the various policy issues at the regional, national and practical levels which resulted in this issue of ASEAN Briefs’ three main recommendations.

ASEAN Studies Program ASEAN Briefs



Program Coordinator/Editor: A. Ibrahim Almuttaqi

Researcher: Herjuno Ndaru K., Adhe Nuansa Wibisono

Finance and Administration: Tia Nurhidayati

Design and Publication: M. I. Qeis


ASEAN Briefs is a bimonthly publications about current development on ASEAN regionalism, especially in the Political-Security, Economic as well as Socio-Cultural Pillars.


ASEAN BRIEFS

Small and Medium Enterprises’ Access to Finance in ASEAN Countries: Innovations and Regional Cooperation

Issue 4/May 2014

SUMMARY

Access to finance for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) is vital for development. State-led programmes in Southeast Asia countries have been a common practice in microfinance and built a foundation especially in agriculture sector. However, many of the government initatives in SMEs financing have not been sustainable, since state budgets were allocated for many programmes and not just for SMEs financing. Besides that, governments have limitations on projecting business sustainability so those initiatives were not efficient and profitable in their operations. Therefore, innovations are needed for responding to these problems.

Innovations in providing more financial services in the ASEAN region should focus on these following issues: private sector development in exploring the potential market in SMEs’ financing; sufficient government intervention on regulatory and supervisory framework; focus on export financing; partnerships with social organizations; and providing financial literacy to consumers.

Experiences from Indonesia and Vietnam have shown that innovations in SMEs financing could be drawn with more participation from the business sector as well as communities. Competitive environment for market as well as financial literacy for the community are both important for the success of SMEs financing. The reform on service sector development in ASEAN as well as its member states has been evolutionary carried out, and it should be continued further.





Researcher: Herjuno Ndaru K., Adhe Nuansa Wibisono




ASEAN Briefs is a regular publications about current development on ASEAN regionalism, especially in the Political-Security, Economic as well as Socio-Cultural Pillars.


ASEAN BRIEFS

The Bali Concord III: Towards a More Common ASEAN Platform on Global Issues

Issue 5/June 2014

SUMMARY

This issue of ASEAN Briefs examines the Bali Concord III which was adopted by the ten member-states of ASEAN in 2011. One of the key documents produced during Indonesia’s 2011 Chairmanship of ASEAN, the Bali Concord III pledged ASEAN to a number of commitments to be achieved by 2022. Chief among them was to: (a) increasingly speak in a common voice on internation-al matters of mutual concern at related international forums, and (b) to enhance ASEAN’s capacity to respond and contribute solutions to those global matters.

However, the commitments raised some question marks given the extreme diversity that exists in the ASEAN region. ASEAN countriesare divided not only in terms of history, culture, geography, economic development, and language but crucially also in their political systems. How possible is it to get all ten ASEAN member-states, each with their own individual national interests, to adopt a common regional position and present a united front externally?

In order to address this question, ASEAN Briefs examined the voting records of the ten ASEAN member-states at the United Nations General Assembly in the years prior and since the adoption of the Bali Concord III. By doing so it was able to trace whether the adoption of the Bali Concord III improved the amount of times the ten member-states of ASEAN were able to adopt a more coordinated, cohesive, and coherent position on global issues; and (b) whether this commitment was realistic and achievable based on ASEAN’s past track record.





Researcher: Herjuno Ndaru K. Adhe Nuansa Wibisono






ASEAN BRIEFS

The AICHR and NHRI Effectiveness in Its Implementation of Human Rights Protection in The Region. Case Studies : The Philippines and Thailand

Issue 6/July 2014

SUMMARY

This edition of ASEAN Briefs examines the effectiveness of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), the importance National Human Rights Institutions (NHRI) and the implementation of human rights protection in ASEAN Member States. This ASEAN Briefs addresses the current situation and development of human rights protection in ASEAN, which is premised on the presence of a human rights body at the regional level and human rights commission at the national level to bring better protection of human rights in ASEAN. However with existence of various unresolved cases of human rights violation such as enforced disappearance, use of violence by the military and police against civilians, and extrajudicial killings, etc., there are concerns that human rights violations in the region will continue to take place.

As such this issue of ASEAN Briefs seeks to explore how ASEAN deals with these serious human rights violations, whether the regional human rights body and the national human rights commission work effectively to resolve the problems, and how the ASEAN member states sought to implement the efforts of promoting and protecting human rights. This was done by examining the various policy issues at the regional, national and practical levels which resulted in this issue of ASEAN Briefs recommendations.





Researcher: Herjuno Ndaru K. Adhe Nuansa Wibisono





Documents

Special Volume, Issue 1/December 2015 Achieving …admin.thcasean.org/assets/uploads/file/2015/12/PB_Vol2_Issue8.pdf · Special Volume, Issue 1/December 2015 INTRODUCTION “Food