On 20 August 2025, the AFSIS Secretariat participated in the Special Senior Officials Meeting of the 24th Meeting of the ASEAN Ministers on Agriculture and Forestry Plus Three (SSOM-24th AMAF+3), hosted by Myanmar via video conference. The AFSIS Secretariat was represented by Dr. Sumanya Ngandee, AFSIS Manager.
During the meeting, Dr. Sumanya presented the progress of AFSIS activities for 2024–2025 (Q2), the future work plan, and also introduced a new initiative to be implemented in the coming year, the AFSIS Geospatial Information System (AFSIS-GIS) project. She further highlighted that AFSIS will begin discussions on strengthening its financial sustainability, based on the joint understanding reached at the upcoming Special Workshop in Japan this October.
The Meeting noted the AFSIS progress report for 2024–2025 (Q2), which covered the implementation of financial sustainability measures in line with the joint understanding. The report also included updates on administrative functions, human resource development activities, food security information development, and cooperation projects with Plus Three countries and other relevant organizations, emphasizing the importance of agricultural statistical data and information management in ASEAN.
Furthermore, the Meeting recognized the importance of ensuring AFSIS’s sustainability to strengthen its role, functions, and long-term operational capacity. Member States also reaffirmed the importance of AFSIS and acknowledged the necessity of enhancing its sustainability to further reinforce its roles and capabilities in the long term. They expressed their commitment to actively participating in the upcoming discussions to contribute to strengthening the self-reliance and long-term sustainability of AFSIS. The Meeting expressed its anticipation of continuing discussions on this matter at the Special Workshop in October 2025.
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.
