ADB Strategy 2030: Responding to Food Security in Asia and the

Pacific

Trinh Minh Duyen

Ph D student, Department of International Law, RUDN University, Miklukho-Maklaya Street, Moscow, Russia

Keywords: Food security, agricultural development, COVID-19 pandemic, food crisis, Strategy 2030, nutrition

Abstract: Food security is an urgent issue of one country and all countries in the Asia-Pacific region and around the

world. This article outlines the importance and situation of food security in the Asia-Pacific region. This is

also one of the Sustainable Development Goals and a priority field of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The Bank's role in the Asia-Pacific region has been increasingly enhanced since its establishment in 1966.

ADB's 2030 Strategy emphasizes food security for member countries through their activities and projects. In

particular, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic causing an urgent warning of a food crisis in the region,

ADB has made timely responses and ensured the progress of the implementation of the Strategy 2030 on food

security.

1 INTRODUCTION

Food has always been a basic human need ensuring

food for people is the most critical issue in every

country. Entering the first decades of the 21st century,

in the context of globalization, international

economic integration, and global climate change,

many countries face the problem of ensuring food

security to stabilize social development- an essential

content in national economic security. Food security

is increasing "heating", attracting many countries in

the region and globally. The most recent world food

crisis took place in 2008; since then, world food

prices have been upward.

Sharing the same fate as tourism, transportation,

aviation, and agricultural industries worldwide are

also struggling with measures to cope with the Covid-

19 pandemic, such as entry bans, border closures, or

implementation of social distancing. That makes

millions of workers in this industry unable to go to the

fields to harvest and grow crops, but the circulation

of goods has also plummeted, the global food supply

chain has been disrupted due to the paralysis of

transport activities. The Asia-Pacific region has

become one of the regions that are warned about the

risk of regional insecurity. As a regional multilateral

bank, since its establishment, ADB has always put

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3505-5605

food security first. ADB's 2030 Strategy still has

practical policies and actions in this regard. In

particular, in the context of the current complicated

COVID-19 epidemic, ADB is making efforts to

support and supplement food for member countries,

offering options to improve agricultural development

through its projects.

2 METHODS

The information is collected from many different

sources through search keywords such as COVID-19,

Food security. The method of collecting information

from many sources helps the author have an objective

assessment of the food security situation in the Asia-

Pacific region. At the same time, the author can

consider the contributions of ADB in this area. The

content analysis method was adopted in this study to

analyze food crisis scenarios during the COVID-19

pandemic in the Asia-Pacific. In addition, the author

used synthesis methods, commentary methods, and

comparison methods to clarify the importance of food

security and the impact of food crises on the region

Duyen, T.

ADB Strategy 2030: Responding to Food Security in Asia and the Paciﬁc.

DOI: 10.5220/0010660100003224

In Proceedings of the 1st International Scientiﬁc Forum on Jurisprudence (WFLAW 2021), pages 40-44

ISBN: 978-989-758-598-2

3 DISCUSION AND RESULTS

3.1 Food Security Situation in Asia-

Pacific

Asia-Pacific is increasingly developing. Countries in

the region have had appropriate institutional and

policy reforms. Rates of hunger and poverty in the

region have decreased significantly. Producers'

incomes and wages are increased, food prices fall.

Malnutrition rates decreased significantly, and calorie

intake increased impressively.(FAO, 2019).

However, nearly half a billion (479 million) people

are still undernourished in Asia and the Pacific.

(UNICEF,2019). The proportion of people who do

not have enough diet to maintain a normal, healthy

life is still very high. In most countries in the region,

the diets of young children do not meet minimum

standards, directly affecting future generations. Food

security issues are becoming more complex in the

Asia and Pacific region.

In Asia, "there were 336 million undernourished

in South Asia in 2004-06 along with 136 million in

East Asia, 85 million in Southeast Asia and 7 million

in Central and Western Asia. The prevalence of

underweight children as well as stunting and wasting

is higher in South Asia than anywhere else in the

world". (FAO, 2019).

Immediately after the food crisis of 2007-2008,

rice stocks were the lowest in the recent 30 years. A

50% increase in rice prices also drives up prices of

meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products. (The

Guardian, 2008). "Commonly referred to as the

"global food crisis," the food price spike had triggered

and social unrest and riots in more than thirty

countries."(Qian Gong, Philippe Le Billon, 2014).

Food protests broke out around the world: Mexico,

West Bengal, Senegal, Mauritania, and many African

countries. Some Asian countries such as China, India,

Egypt, Vietnam, and Cambodia have imposed tariffs

or banned exports. According to the Food and

Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

(FAO), the crisis caused 642 million people in Asia

to go hungry in 2009, this figure accounts for 63% of

the world total. In the same year, about 200 million

children under five were stunted, and 130 million

were underweight worldwide. (UNICEF, 2009).

Poverty affects young generations' development

because it is the cause of social evils, leading to

illiteracy, lack of understanding, etc.

According to the report of FAO, UNICEF, WFP

and WHO, about 350.6 million people in Asia and

Pacific region were undernourished in 2019, about

51% of the entire world. In addition, the report

estimates that around 31.5 million children are

undernourished in the Asia and Pacific region. (FAO,

UNICEF, WFP, WHO, 2020).

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, and

disruptions occurred in food supply chains in many

countries. This has affected food production, lost

incomes, and reduced remittances, creating serious

stresses and food security risks in many countries. As

a result, countries in the world in general and

countries in Asia-Pacific, in particular, are concerned

that there will be another food crisis.

COVID-19 has impacted the labor market;

unemployment is abundant, families have less

income, while food prices are constantly increasing;

food transportation takes longer and is more

expensive; exacerbate poverty in Asia and the Pacific.

Before the impact of the pandemic, more than 10

million children under the age of 5 were underweight,

78 million children were stunted, and 17 million

children were overweight. (UNICEF,2020).

Countries in this region are facing opportunities

and challenges in the context of climate change and

pandemics, requiring new policies to ensure food

security.

Particular attention should be paid to the policies

of previous countries: instead of producing food

domestically, developing countries should devote

their land and labor to the export of commodities such

as coffee and sugar, and cotton; The second is trade

liberalization. The removal of tariff barriers makes

exports to developing countries cheaper, directly

affecting a small part of farmers in business and food

production.

To solve this problem, countries need to consider

the following measures:

Firstly, to promote development and restructure

food production in association with the market:

Restructuring crop production towards total and

large-scale production; associated with preservation,

processing, and consumption along the value chain,

meeting the market and adapting to climate change;

To develop animal husbandry by industrial and semi-

industrial methods, professional farms and livestock

households; application of high technology, advanced

production processes, biosafety, and environmental

friendliness; Reduce coastal fishing, develop

sustainable offshore fishing.

Second, invest in the development of

infrastructure for food production: Continue

investing in and upgrading the system of irrigation

works and natural disaster prevention and control;

ensure water security. Develop multi-purpose

irrigation, prioritize investment in the construction of

ADB Strategy 2030: Responding to Food Security in Asia and the Paciﬁc

irrigation works for aquaculture. (Ahmed, M.,

Mylene H. Lorica, 2002).

Third, strengthen research, application, and

transfer of science and technology in food production,

preservation, and processing: Focus on research,

selection, breeding, and development of the plant,

animal, and aquatic plant varieties productivity, high

quality, disease resistance, and adaptation to climate

change.

Fourth, training to improve the quality of human

resources; improve resource use efficiency, protect

the environment, improve the ability to adapt to

climate change, and prevent natural disasters;

Promote international cooperation in the field of food

security.

3.2 ADB and Its Efforts to Strengthen

Food Security in the Asia-Pacific

Established in 1966, ADB is committed to achieving

prosperity, equity, resilience, and sustainability,

while sustaining efforts to eradicate extreme poverty

in the Asia-Pacific region. In its nearly 60-year

history, ADB has funds hundreds of agriculture and

natural resources projects, starting in 1967 with the

first technical assistance on food or production in

Indonesia. The bank still operates on a project basis,

especially in areas such as investment in

infrastructure, agricultural development, and loan

financing for primary industries in member countries.

Realizing that food security is critical, it is one

factor to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals

(SDGs), especially hunger eradication, poverty

reduction, and health and welfare community

improvement. Food security is also an essential key

in determining economic growth trends and

agricultural transition in some countries, creating

conditions for countries to integrate into regional and

international economic markets more effectively.

However, in the Asia and Pacific region, 1.9 billion

people cannot afford a healthy diet due to the soaring

price of fruits, vegetables, and dairy products.

ADB has identified: Food security and poverty

alleviations are a priority and cross-cutting goal.

Through each stage, in response to the context of the

Asia-Pacific region, ADB provides timely response

policies, efforts to develop the region's poverty and

food insecurity.

As mentioned above, in 2007-2008, the world

witnessed a record increase in rice prices. This is

because the main exporting countries such as

Vietnam and India restrict exports, combined with the

rush of large importing countries such as the

Philippines to buy rice, pushing up rice prices rapidly.

Its consequences are pushing nearly 1 billion people

around the world into poverty. ADB has acted

aggressively to help its member countries respond to

the crisis:

- Support is still in the long-term strategy from

2008-2020;

- Focusing its activities on key areas of job

creation, stimulating domestic demand, promoting

regional cooperation and integration, and boosting

investor confidence in times of crisis;

- Enhance effective lending: ADB planned to

increase its lending by more than $10 billion in 2009–

2010, especially for low-income countries; (ADB,

2016);

- ADB mobilized cofinancing with development

partners for its projects during this period;

- Working closely with development partners in

the region, as well as the International Monetary Fund

and the World Bank and regional organizations such

as ASEAN and SAARC: "ADB's assistance helped

ASEAN implement its Integrated Food Security

Framework and Strategic Plan of Action for Food

Security in the wake of the food price crisis in 2007–

2008". (Kim, Kijin; Kim, Sunae; Park, Cyn-Young,

2020).

In 2016, ADB announced that: "ADB has

committed $2 billion annually to meet the rising

demand for nutritious, safe, and affordable food in

Asia and the Pacific". (ADB, 2009).

In 2018, ADB released Strategy 2030 to meet the

changing needs of Asia and the Pacific. ADB support

will focus on seven priority activities: (i) addressing

persistent poverty and reducing inequality; (ii)

promote progress in gender equality; (iii) tackle

climate change, build resilience to climate and

disasters, and enhance environmental sustainability;

(iv) making cities more livable; (v) promoting rural

development and food security; (vi) strengthening

governance and institutional capacity; and (vii)

promote regional cooperation and integration.

Strategy 2030's goals are aligned with critical

global commitments, such as the Sustainable

Development Goals, Financing the Development

Agenda, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, and

the Framework for Action Sendai on disaster risk

reduction. ADB will continue to prioritize assistance

to the region's poorest and most vulnerable countries.

Promoting rural development and food security is one

of the Bank's seven priority activities in Strategy

2030: "ADB will support efforts to improve market

connectivity and agricultural value chain linkages. It

will help DMCs increase agricultural productivity

and food security by boosting farm and nonfarm

incomes, promoting the adoption of advanced

WFLAW 2021 - INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC FORUM ON JURISPRUDENCE

technologies and climate-smart agricultural

practices, and supporting natural resource

management standards. It will also help DMCs

enhance food safety". (ADB, 2018).

In addition, ADB understands that food security is

closely related to water security, ecological

environment protection, climate change adaptation,

and sustainable development. With increasing and

unpredictable impacts on many areas in the region,

climate change has increased resource depletion and

environmental degradation, increases vulnerability,

slows down the socio-economic development

process. Therefore, combating climate change is also

a policy that ADB actively pursues to alleviate food

shortages in the region. ADB has committed to

providing an estimated $80 billion in financing

between 2019 and 2030 for climate; ADB ensures

that at least 75% of ADB's committed activities will

support climate change mitigation and adaptation by

2030. (ADB, 2018).

In 2019, the Bank was active in the economic

development of the region through investments in

agriculture, natural resources, and rural development

(ANR) projects: "In total, ADB has invested more

than $68 billion in the region with over $7 billion

(approximately 10%) allotted to the ANR sector".

(Bui, 2020).

In light of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic

on food security in the Asia and Pacific region is also

the lesson to be learned: "The Covid-19 pandemic

also taught us that food, agriculture, environment, and

climate are interwoven and need to be handled in an

integrated way and balanced manner".(Rasul, 2021).

ADB has quickly responded to financial,

spending, and production systems, encourage credit

for regional finance, and provides capital to

households. (Felipe, J., Scott., F., 2020).

ADB has launched financial support packages for

member countries, including $ 6.5 billion, and then

expanded its total package to about $ 20 billion.

(ADB, 2020).

- Immediate and short-term support for food

security: ADB provides food security support for

member countries, focusing on countries at risk of

food insecurity, such as the Philippines, India, and the

Kyrgyz Republic.(Kim, Kijin; Kim, Sunae; Park,

Cyn-Young, 2020).

As the COVID-19 situation continues to threaten

the lives and livelihoods of millions of people in the

Asia-Pacific region, there is growing concern about

the long-term health of food systems in the Asia-

Pacific region. This issue affects progress toward the

ambitious goals of ADB's Strategy 2030 on food

security and poverty alleviation in the region.

Therefore, ADB needs new policies, more investment

in projects to promote rural development and food

security in the Asia-Pacific region. At the same time,

it is necessary to work closely with member countries

to protect the food system, to accumulate food

reserves to cope with unexpected situations.

Some proposed solutions to help ADB and its

member countries consider and ensure food security

in the region:

- Inflation tends to increase in the Asia-Pacific

region, causing adverse impacts on the poor in each

country and the whole region. Therefore, along with

prioritizing resources for disaster reduction, ADB

should promote investment in the agricultural sector,

strengthen linkages through public-private

partnerships to develop water resources, seeds, to

support the development of the agricultural sector;

- ADB maintains a more harmonized lending level

to help underdeveloped countries that are in dire need

of ADB resources to develop their economies and

close the gap;

- ADB should continue to coordinate with its

member countries in Strategy 2030 actions to realize

goals on food security, hunger eradication, poverty

reduction, combating climate change, etc.;

- Calling on member countries to actively support

and contribute more to ADB's funds to increase

development resources and address regional

challenges;

ADB needs to continue reforming governance and

strengthen cooperation with the World Bank,

International Monetary Fund, and The Group of Eight

countries to strengthen the power to deal with food

security and other issues to pursue the Sustainable

Development Goals.

4 CONCLUSIONS

It can be said that up to now, ADB has been making

great efforts to ensure food security in the region.

ADB's contributions have contributed to helping

member countries overcome and develop more in

food issues and climate, environment, gender

equality, etc. However, it is predicted that food

security will be challenging for the Asia-Pacific

region after the COVID-19 period. This is also ADB's

barrier in implementing the Sustainable Development

Goals as well as its ambition to achieve the goal of

food security in Strategy 2030. However, this will be

a long battle for all, but ADB will also have to make

great efforts in its activities, coordinate actions with

member countries and other international

organizations.

ADB Strategy 2030: Responding to Food Security in Asia and the Paciﬁc

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