On 9 February 2023, the 2 representatives of the AFSIS Secretariat, Dr. Waraporn Saelee, AFSIS Manager, and Mr. Tanabodee Kheosipalard, Statistician, were invited to be the distinguished guest for the Policy hand-in and Closing Ceremony in the Young ASEAN Leader Policy Initiative (YALPI) 2023 at Building 3, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.
YALPI is an international forum that gathers and empowers youths to initiate solutions for solving current social issues to formulate policy recommendations that will impact the development of socio-political policy for addressing the ongoing problems facing the ASEAN region. This year, there were 59 ASEAN and non-ASEAN students from YALPI network universities in each ASEAN member country, and online applications applied to the program.
During the event, there were 6 policy recommendations presentations from delegates according to the theme “Rethinking a Post-COVID-19 ASEAN: An Equitable and Resilient Socio-Economic Recovery” which were related to the 2 topics, 3 policy recommendations presentations for Food Security, and 3 policy recommendations presentations for Digital Inclusion.
After the presentation, Dr. Waraporn Saelee was honored to receive the recommended policies from delegates in the Policy Hand-in Ceremony to encourage their participation in policymaking. In addition, Dr. Waraporn also delivered a speech to reflect these recommended policies created by the delegates, which AFSIS Secretariat will circulate these policy recommendations to the ASEAN Member States for their reference and consideration to apply these policies to the country in accordance with their own circumstances.
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On 23 April 2026, the AFSIS Secretariat participated in the Ad-Hoc Senior Officials Meeting of the ASEAN Ministers on Agriculture and Forestry (SOM-AMAF), held via a virtual platform, to discuss the implications of recent developments in the Middle East on regional food security and to identify coordinated measures to enhance ASEAN’s food resilience, in preparation for the ASEAN Ministers on Agriculture and Forestry (AMAF) Meeting.
The agricultural sector plays a vital role in supporting food security and livelihoods across ASEAN, where diverse production capacities shape the availability of major agricultural commodities such as rice, maize, sugarcane, soybean, and cassava. This report examines the SSR patterns across ASEAN to emphasize regional strengths, structural imbalances, and the implications for food security and agricultural policy in the region.
The self-sufficiency ratio (SSR) is a key indicator of food security. It shows how well Southeast Asian countries can meet rice demand through domestic production, with the region overall remaining increasingly self-sufficient despite ongoing challenges.
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On 19 March 2026, the AFSIS Secretariat participated in the Asia and the Pacific Food Systems Forum 2026 under the theme “Feeding the Future, Sustaining the Planet” in Manila, the Philippines, organized by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) . The forum aimed to promote food security policies, review ADB’s related initiatives, and support long-term food systems transformation.
