The Korea Agency of Education, Promotion and Information Service in Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (EPIS), funded and organized the Local Training on Establishing Real-Time AFSIS and Development of Human Resources 3rd Phase Project during 23-25 November 2022, in Vientiane, Lao PDR. Additionally, the training was provided by the EGIS consortium as the instructors.
There was a total of 50 candidates from Lao PDR as governance officers in charge of food security and agricultural food data. The representatives of the AFSIS Secretariat were Dr. Waraporn Saelee, AFSIS Manager, and Dr. Sumanya Ngandee, Deputy AFSIS Manager participated in this training.
During the opening session of the training program, Dr. Boundeth SOUTHAVILAY, Deputy Director General of Department of Planning and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry was honored with opening remarks. In addition, Dr. Waraporn Saelee, AFSIS Manager, Mr. Kham NILAVONG, Deputy Director General of Champasak Provincial of Agriculture and Forestry Office, as well as Mr. KWANG SE (Bruce), Lee, Global Chief Marketing Officer, EGIS company delivered welcoming remarks to all the participants.
The main goal of this training program was to strengthen ICT human capabilities and data preparation on food security information under the Establishing Real-Time ASEAN Food Security Information System and Development Human Resources (Real-Time AFSIS Project) 3rd Phase. Furthermore, another goal aimed to report the performance of the implementation of the Real-Time AFSIS Project 3rd Phase in Lao PDR.
The training provided lessons on spatial information and also related technologies with Forecasting Model in the agriculture sector. Furthermore, the attendees gained not only knowledge on the utilization of related technologies but also did practical training with drone surveys, analyzing the drone images, and utilization of analyzed data.
The training was successfully completed with great collaboration from all participants. In this regard, AFSIS will keep supporting and collaborating with key organizations to enhance both the ASEAN Food Security Information System and the region's human resource development.
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.
