Cres Ian Lorenzo
First of two parts
ON Oct. 10, 2026, the first Asean Food Security and Agribusiness Summit 2026 was held at the LandBank Plaza in Malate, Manila, which we should consider a pivotal event as that should lead to the realization of the Asean Food Security Alliance (AFSA).
I presented the roadmap for the realization of AFSA covering 2026 to 2030 during the event, which was attended by Asean officials and representatives from Asean, the Asean-Business Advisory Council (ABAC), the private sector, and other stakeholders.
The AFSA was created in 2024 through the ABAC Philippines led by Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship–Go Negosyo founder Joey Concepcion. And yours truly was one of those who led in its conceptualization and currently its senior adviser.
Since 2024 or the year AFSA was created, a lot of events have transpired that must prompt us to make AFSA a reality, or to transform it from policy to action. Among these events are the global trade shock caused by the imposition of tariffs on goods by the Trump administration, and the Middle East war that has caused fuel and fertilizer prices to go up sharply.
In the local front, the revelations from the flood control scandal caused a slowdown in gross domestic product (GDP) growth from the third quarter of last year. The Philippine economy has not recovered ever since, especially with the effects of the Middle East war.
And the super or extreme El Niño’s is almost certain to unleash its wrath starting this month, with food producers expected to bear the brunt. Southeast Asia, as shown in the past, is expected to be among the regions that will be hardest hit by the super or extreme El Niño.
Definitely, we should waste no time in making AFSA a reality, or go from policy to action.
The vision for AFSA is a food-secure, climate-resilient, competitive, and inclusive Asean where governments, businesses, farmers, researchers, and development partners collaborate to ensure sustainable food systems.
To attain the vision, we need to translate Asean food security policy into measurable regional action through: Public-Private-Producer-People Partnership (5Ps); innovation; investment; digitalization; and cross-border collaboration.
And AFSA connects policy to action to build a food-secure, prosperous, resilient, and inclusive Asean.
Furthermore, AFSA is not simply about agricultural reform; it is a system transformation that is anchored by the Resilience Revolution for Agriculture.
So, in pursuing the Resilience Revolution, we must to go from vulnerability to resilience; extraction to regeneration; silos to systems; production to value creation; information to intelligence; isolation to partnership; and pilots to scale.
And eight strategic pillars should work together for a food-secure, resilient and prosperous Asean: Food security, innovation, investment, farmers, sustainability, and digitalization.
Food security and innovation
Now, let us discuss each of the strategic pillars, and their objectives, priority actions, partners, and key performance indicators (KPIs).
In creating the Asean food security coordination platform, the objective is to ensure stable, affordable, and sufficient food supplies.
Besides the actual creation of the Asean food security coordination platform, the following are the priority actions:
– Facilitation of regional food trade
– Reduction of non-tariff barriers
– Coordination for an emergency food reserve
– Establishment of a regional logistics and cold chain
– Installing early warning systems
Taking the lead for first strategic pillar is the Asean-BAC/AFSA Secretariat, while the primary actors are the Asean member-states, private logistics firms, port operators, and food companies.
The timeline for the first strategic pillar is as follows with their KPIs:
– 2026 Platform design. KPI is reducing food disruptions.
– 2027 Regional integration. KPI is reducing and setting emergency response time.
– 2028-30 Full operations. KPI is realization of the intra-Asean food trade.
For the second strategic pillar, Agricultural Modernization and Innovation, the objective is to increase productivity through innovation.
The set of actions for this strategic pillar are: Precision agriculture, artificial intelligence (AI) farming, digital agriculture, satellite monitoring, mechanization, climate-smart farming, and research collaboration.
It is very clear that the second strategic pillar emphasizes science and technology, which should not be a surprise. And with developments in AI surging at almost breakneck speed, we should lose no time in seeking and deploying artificial intelligence-based solutions for agriculture and food production.
The lead stakeholders and actors for the second strategic pillar are: Agriculture ministries; universities; research centers; and private technology companies.
The deliverables here are the establishment of regional innovation networks, Asean Smart Farm Program, and Digital Agriculture Centers. The KPIs are productivity increase, digital adoption, and increase in farmer’s income.
Strategic pillar No. 3 is Sustainable Investment and Agribusiness, and the objective is to mobilize regional investment.
The sets of actions here are the creation of the Asean Agribusiness Investment Platform, blended finance, ESG (environmental, social, and governance), investments, financing for small and medium industries, cross-border agribusiness, investment pipeline, and PPP projects.
I believe that there is no shortage of private and public funds that can be deployed as investments for the third strategic pillar, and what we need is an ecosystem to mobilize these for the realization of AFSA.
I will continue the discussion of the remaining strategic pillars in the next installment of this two-part column-series.
And let me emphasize anew that in realizing AFSA, or taking policy to action, there is no need for any grandiose initiative or mega-project requiring trillions of dollars to build.
I say this because Asean’s agriculture sector can be developed into a robust food production system, capable of providing accessible, affordable, and nutritious food for all citizens of the bloc’s member-states.
What we need is concerted and decisive action and follow-through to take AFSA from policy to action.
