On 13 September 2022, Ms. Chenyang Zhang, a representative of the Odyssey Technical Company Limited from Hong Kong visited the AFSIS Secretariat office.
The Odyssey Technical Company Limited is a multimedia platform company in Hong Kong that focuses on issues regarding sustainable development, South-South cooperation, and agricultural development.
The purpose of this visit was to conduct the interview with Dr. Waraporn Saelee, AFSIS Manager.
During the interview, Dr. Waraporn presented the introduction of AFSIS project including the implementation of AFSIS in 2 main components which are Food security Information Development (FSID) and Human Resource Development (HRD). The HRD aims to raise the capacity of member states to provide related personnel in the member states with knowledge and skills, so they can apply them to their work. While FSID is for disseminating food security-related data that is used for the policy planning and activities in member countries to assess food security situations in the region and identify the areas where food insecurity is likely to occur so they can tackle and support release those difficulties.
The interview is planned to be published on the YouTube channel and on Chinese social media as this interview will be a part of their plan to promote sustainable development concepts through different projects and China's foreign aid to agriculture.
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.
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On 5–6 March 2026, the AFSIS Secretariat participated in the 14th Meeting of the ASEAN Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve (APTERR) Council via video conference, hosted by the Kingdom of Cambodia. The meeting brought together representatives from ASEAN Plus Three countries, the ASEAN Secretariat, the ASEAN Food Security Reserve Board (AFSRB), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the APTERR Secretariat, and the AFSIS Secretariat to discuss key issues related to regional food security and emergency rice reserves.
