Indonesia Urges Stronger Ties at FAO Asia-Pacific Meeting

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia called for enhanced regional cooperation as ministers from across Asia and the Pacific gathered in Brunei Darussalam today, April 23, to negotiate collaboration pathways and priority actions with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

The 38th Session of the FAO Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific (APRC38) comes at a critical time, as geopolitical tensions and climate impacts put growing pressure on agrifood systems. The conference aims to harness the region’s agricultural capacity to bolster food security, specifically ensuring that smallholders benefit from technology and trade.

Opening the session, the Crown Prince of Brunei, His Royal Highness Prince Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah, called on nations to work together to increase resilience and food security.

“We meet at an important time. Food systems across the region are under increasing pressure, climate change is already affecting how we grow and produce food, natural ecosystems have been strained, and supply chains remain vulnerable,” he said as noted in a press release.

“We cannot ignore the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East which continue to disrupt global trade and energy markets. Against this backdrop, food security must remain at the very center of our collective efforts,” he continued, adding that while the challenges are significant, they can be overcome. 

Soaring energy and fertilizer costs, reduced income from agricultural exports to Gulf nations, and the persistent uncertainty caused by the 2026 conflict in the Middle East are fueling volatility in commodity markets and global inflationary pressures. This is in addition to the longer-term pressures from intensifying climate impacts, including droughts, floods, and extreme weather events, and land and water degradation. 

“We must build resilience from within, because no external help will be sustainable without our own collective will,” FAO Director-General QU Dongyu said in remarks to the key Ministerial meeting on Thursday. 

The Director-General noted that while the region, home to more than half the world’s population and food production, has made remarkable progress in productivity and innovation, it remains home to more food-insecure people than any other part of the globe.

“Public resources alone will not be enough,” he said, urging participants to engage with the theme of financing and investments in agrifood systems, which are at the center of several roundtable dialogues at the APRC38. 

Qu highlighted “unprecedented opportunities” through science, digitalization, and partnerships, noting that an increasing number of countries in the region are graduating from Least Developed Country status. These nations, possessing a stronger food security base, are now aiming to increase trade in agricultural surpluses and value-added products.

Member countries will identify priority regional and local themes for the FAO to consider while preparing the Programme of Work and Budget for the next biennium, aligning them with the FAO’s Strategic Framework and country programming frameworks.

South-South Cooperation to Scale Existing Solutions

Addressing the conference, Ali Jamil, Director General for Estate Crops (a.i) at the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture, said the country is exploring structural reforms and strengthening governance to put farmers at the heart of its agrifood systems transformation.

Agriculture is central to Indonesia’s economy, contributing around 14% of GDP and supporting over 40 million people, mostly smallholders.

The picture is similar across the Asia-Pacific. The region’s smallholders, who constitute 80 percent of all producers in the region, produce 54 percent of global agriculture and fish output.

“Indonesia proposes exploring a Southeast Asia sub-regional platform on food systems transformation to enhance coordination, knowledge exchange, and financing, including South-South cooperation,” Ali added.

FAO Members in Asia and the Pacific, including Indonesia, have been particularly active in various FAO initiatives that support country-owned and country-led solutions.

“Across Asia and the Pacific, countries are no longer only recipients of solutions,” Qu noted, emphasizing how success stories such as those achieved by South-South Cooperation reflect the “spirit of dignified partnership” that defines the region. 

“They are providers of expertise, technology, policy innovation, and financing models.” 

Regional Conference to Address Challenges Ahead

The APRC38’s agenda includes bolstering access to affordable and nutritious diets, which are relatively expensive compared to global averages, speeding up low-emission and sustainable agricultural practices, facilitating trade and market integration, mobilizing domestic and international finance and investment, and directing it to smallholders.

Among the ministerial roundtables are sessions focusing on bolstering resilient and inclusive aquatic food systems, accelerating sustainable bioeconomy approaches, and accelerating agrifood investment pathways through FAO’s Hand-in-Hand Initiative. 

Innovation that leaves behind smallholders is not innovation, but exclusion, Qu said, especially as smallholder-dominated landscapes under pressure face challenges from water scarcity and overextraction as well as nutrient depletion. Land degradation is a particularly salient risk across the region. 

At the same time, there will be another 200 million people to feed in the region by 2050, who will require distributed access to productivity-boosting tools ranging from improved seeds and weather forecasting to digital advisory services, precision farming methods to save water in the Mekong Delta, solar-powered cold chains to cut post-harvest losses in South Asia, and low-methane rice farming wherever possible.

“FAO is fully committed to supporting you,” the Director-General told the ministers. “We must act now, with courage and creativity.”

Read: FAO Launches Asia-Pacific Food Forum in Brunei Darussalam

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