On 22-25 November 2021, AFSIS Secretariat was invited by the Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to attend the Twenty-ninth Session of the Asia and Pacific Commission on Agricultural Statistics (APCAS29). This virtual meeting was honorably hosted by the National Statistics Office of Mongolia.
3 representatives from AFSIS Secretariat had attended the meeting as observers which were Dr. Waraporn Saelee, AFSIS Manager, Dr. Sumanya Ngandee, deputy AFSIS Manager, and Mr. Tanabodee Kheosipalard, Statistician.
The core purposes of the meeting are to bring together senior statistics officials from FAO member countries of the Asia and Pacific region that responsible for the development of agricultural statistics in their countries, review the developments in their agricultural statistics systems, as well as exchange ideas with experts from FAO and other organizations on the current status of food and agricultural statistics in the region.
In this APCAS29, the main discussed topics focused on the impact of COVID-19 on statistical operations, challenges and development for SDG indicators, use of earth observation data, and the 50x2030 initiative.
The next meeting of APCAS30 will be honorably hosted by the government of Nepal.









Some photos are from http://apcas29.com
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.
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.
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.