Will Asean prioritise food security or succumb to protectionist measures?

Food security has been a key area of cooperation among Asean members since 2009, covering everything from sustainability plans for priority crops to resource-sharing
But many nations within the bloc turned to food protectionism in the early stages of the Ukraine war, raising the question of how effectively Asean can implement its plans

Joseph Sipalan

Published: 10:15am, 26 May 2023

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Earlier this month, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr raised the need for Asean to implement innovative solutions to ensure food self-sufficiency and security in the region, as global food production faces increasing pressure from surging population growth, climate change and geopolitical crises.

Marcos made the call on the sidelines of the Asean summit in Indonesia, where leaders pledged to build long-term resilience and sustainability of agriculture and food systems in the region.

It is not the first time the Southeast Asian diplomatic bloc has made such commitments.

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Food security was established as a key area of cooperation among Asean members as far back as 2009, when they launched the Strategic Plans of Action on Food Security, a five-year road map that has since been extended twice.

The Asean Integrated Food Security framework was also launched in parallel, with the aim of ensuring long-term food security and improving the livelihoods of farmers in Asean member states.

The plans and framework were discussed in-depth and well formulated by diplomats and senior civil servants representing their respective nations, covering everything from national and regional investment and sustainability plans for priority crops, livestock and fisheries to sharing resources and promoting increased multilateral cooperation and coordination.

But it all boils down to implementation.

Workers carry sacks of rice imported from Thailand at a Indonesian Logistics Bureau in Indonesia’s Aceh province. Photo: AFP

More than half of the 767.9 million undernourished people worldwide live in the Asia-Pacific region, according to a 2022 report on food security and nutrition compiled by four UN agencies and released earlier this year.

Asia and the Pacific also hold half of the 500 million people facing moderate or severe food insecurity globally, the report said, a situation exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic and the spike in global food, energy and fertiliser prices caused by the Ukraine war.

Nations across the world very quickly retreated into their own shells of food protectionism in the early stages of the war, including some in Asean as they grappled with shortages in wheat and feedstock.

During that period, Malaysia infamously banned, albeit briefly, exports of broiler chickens to Singapore.

So much for multilateral cooperation and coordination.

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This raises the question of how effectively Asean can implement the plethora of plans and frameworks developed over years of exhaustive discussions and negotiations.

The diplomatic grouping has long-held a position of pursuing aspirational goals, steering clear of making any binding decisions lest they conflict with its policy of non-interference in the affairs of member states.

The non-interference policy enshrined in the Asean charter was intended to act as a guard against any meddling in the internal affairs of member states, but it has also proved a major obstacle in dealing with uncooperative behaviour.

A clear example would be their inability to get Myanmar to abide by the five-point consensus to end the violence stemming from a 2021 military coup, despite the junta’s top general agreeing to the deal.

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Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo, the current chair of Asean, had called on the bloc to speak with a united voice when addressing challenges facing the region. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said he was disappointed by the “lack of meaningful and real progress” with the five-point consensus, according to a Reuters report.

Despite all the criticism towards Myanmar’s junta, the most that Asean managed was to exclude junta chief Min Aung Hlaing from their annual summit.

That has done nothing to stem the ongoing violence, which has killed more than 19,000 people in 2022 alone, according to data compiled by US-based conflict monitoring group Acled. The United Nations estimates 1.2 million people have been displaced and some 70,000 have fled the country.

With little appetite among Asean members to even consider passing binding decisions – let alone enforcing them – it would not be surprising if they were to return to food protectionism should the global food security crisis come to a head.

Joseph Sipalan is a correspondent at the Post’s Asia desk.

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