The 55th Annual Meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Board of Governors is currently underway at the ADB headquarters in Ortigas Center, Mandaluyong City. Founded in 1966 by 31 member-countries, the multilateral financial institution has grown to comprise 68 member-countries, of which 49 are within Asia and the Pacific.
Last September 27, ADB announced plans to provide at least $14 billion over the next three years to ease a worsening regional food crisis and improve long-term food security by strengthening food systems against the impacts of biodiversity loss and climate change. Nearly 1.1 billion people in the region lack healthy diets because of poverty and food prices that have soared to record highs in 2022.
According to ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa, “this is a timely and urgently needed response to a crisis that is leaving too many poor families in Asia hungry and in deeper poverty.” The funding will be channeled through existing and new projects involving farm inputs, social protection, irrigation, water resources management, nature-based solutions, food production and distribution.
He noted that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has disrupted supplies of food staples and fertilizers, thereby straining a global food system already weakened by climate change impacts, unsustainable farming practices, and pandemic-related supply shocks. Even before Russia invaded Ukraine, nutritious food was unaffordable for significant portions of the population in many low-income member-countries of ADB.
“An important part of our long-term approach is to safeguard natural resources and support farmers and agribusinesses which produce and distribute much of the region’s food, and to promote open trade to ensure it reaches consumers efficiently,” Asakawa said.
ADB will apply the lessons it learned from supporting its members during the global food crisis in 2007-2008 that coincided with the global financial crisis. Since then, the regional development bank has provided $2 billion in annual investments for food security, which it identified as a key operational priority in 2018.
AGRILINK, FOODLINK, AQUALINK
Meanwhile, the Philippines’ biggest and most prestigious international trade show on agribusiness, food and fishery reels off on October 6-8, 2022 at the World Trade Center Metro Manila in Pasay City.
This mega-event shall consist of three major components: the 27th International Agribusiness Exhibition & Seminar or AgriLink 2022; the 21st International Food Processing, Packaging & Products Exhibition or FoodLink 2022; and the 16th National Fisheries Exhibition & Seminars or AquaLink 2022.
Among the featured exhibitors is AgriDom Solutions Corp., a Davao-based tech firm that seeks to address the issue of food insufficiency and loss of agricultural lands due to industrialization. AgriDom offers the latest drone technology for agricultural spraying and aerial imaging using next-generation mapping systems. It also operates the country’s first agricultural drone training academy for unmanned aircraft.
Now on its 27th year, AgriLink is organized by the Foundation for Research Linkage and Development Inc. (FRLD), a non-profit organization that traces its roots to a group of agribiz advocates led by Dulce Gozon, Manuel Iguall, Franklin Panahon, Rosalino Perez, Antonio Roces, Angelito Sarmiento, and Miguel Unson. FRLD believes that “despite two years’ absence in the agri-exhibition scene brought about by the adversities and disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, we are slowly inching our way into the groove of the new normal.”
J. Albert Gamboa is a Life Member of the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (FINEX). He is the Chairman of the FINEX Media Affairs Committee and the Editor-in-Chief of FINEX Digest. The opinion expressed herein does not necessarily reflect the views of these institutions and the Manila Bulletin. #FinexPhils www.finex.org.ph