Dai Di, Communications Officer, Tel.: +41 (0)79 949 4637, Email: di.dai@weforum.org
· 150 ASEAN leaders join the Grow Asia Forum 2016 to develop South-East Asian agricultural sector
· Grow Asia, an initiative which facilitates multistakeholder collaboration for the benefit of smallholder farmers, works with five ASEAN countries, reaching 471,200 farmers
· Since its launch in 2015, Grow Asia has helped build partnerships in the Philippines and Cambodia and strengthened existing partnerships in Indonesia, Myanmar and Vietnam
· For more information about the meeting: http://wef.ch/asean16
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 31 May 2016 – More than 150 leaders from across South-East Asia, from government, farmer organizations, business and civil society, came together today to share and evaluate experiences from the first year of Grow Asia, an initiative to provide access to capital and knowledge for small farmers. The debate focused on what is needed for agriculture to ensure a food-secure future for the region and how to build a more resilient agricultural sector across South-East Asia
Grow Asia’s goal is to reach 10 million smallholder farmers by 2020 to improve farm productivity, profitability and environmental sustainability by 20%.
The initiative was established by the World Economic Forum in cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretariat. It is a unique platform that enables locally led, value chain initiatives to focus on smallholder farmers and environmental sustainability through a high-level, multistakeholder approach. Since its launch in 2015, Grow Asia has supported country-level partnerships in Vietnam, Indonesia and Myanmar and launched new partnerships in the Philippines and Cambodia. In the past year, 34 new value chain initiatives were launched across all five countries. Grow Asia now engages over 260 partners, an increase from 194 in 2015. The number of smallholder farmers reached rose fivefold to 471,200.
Additionally, the Grow Asia Secretariat was established in Singapore to accelerate innovation and the sharing of best practice via a broad regional network. These achievements were reported in Grow Asia’s first Report on Progress, launched today at the 2016 Grow Asia Forum.
Adi Pramudyo, a young farmer from Indonesia who participated in the Grow Asia Forum, said: “Grow Asia stands apart in its efforts to put the farmer at the heart of the solutions it seeks to find through partnerships. Greater empowerment, innovation and economic prosperity will attract the next generation of farmers and help sustain agriculture.”
“Agriculture is a priority sector for Cambodia and its development will determine progress to prosperity. We are delighted that Grow Asia has supported us to launch the Cambodia Partnership for Sustainable Agriculture and is helping to convene partners to work with us in meeting farmer needs for access to markets, knowledge, technology and finance. We are committed to playing our part in making this partnership a success,” noted Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, who will be participating in the World Economic Forum on ASEAN in Kuala Lumpur taking place on 1 June 2016.
“Our progress to date demonstrates the effectiveness of Grow Asia’s unique multistakeholder model in bringing together a diverse group of stakeholders to collaborate and drive action on the ground to improve smallholder farming. The commitment of high-level leaders to collective action empowers farmers and instigates innovation and economic prosperity, making a significant contribution to national and regional food security,” said Kavita Prakash-Mani, Executive Director, Grow Asia.
At today’s Grow Asia Forum 2016 in Kuala Lumpur, leaders discussed future plans to scale up Grow Asia’s five country partnerships. Priority areas for future development include the need to scale innovative financing approaches for smallholder farmers and consideration of an open-source digital platform to link farmers with partners and service providers directly.
“Grow Asia’s ability to bring together various stakeholders in the agriculture ecosystem is commendable. And the result is proven by its many achievements in countries that it has a footprint. Farmers’ income is increased, yields are boosted and at the same time environmental sustainability is ensured. My deepest congratulations to Grow Asia,” said Malaysian Minister of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry, Ahmad Shabery Bin Cheek, during the Opening Plenary.
For more information on Grow Asia, see www.growasia.org.
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