The United States and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) have launched a three-year project meant to ease the trade of food products in the region.
Dubbed Market (Maximizing Agricultural Revenue through Knowledge, Enterprise Development, and Trade), the initiative is aimed at improving food security for Asean member states and contribute to regional integration by enabling freer movement of food products and commodities.
Market will provide flexible and demand-driven support to the Asean Secretariat, while bringing more private-sector and civil-society input into regional agriculture policy dialogue.
Considering that the project helps reduce barriers to trade, the exchange of goods within Asean is expected to increase. This, in turn, will help decrease the risk of another food price crisis.
David Carden, US ambassador to Asean, said on Friday in a joint statement that boosting food trade will improve the lives of Asean citizens by reducing costs and increasing the variety of food products available in local markets.
“More trade provides more business opportunities, which translates into new jobs in the transportation, manufacturing, wholesaling and retail businesses that depend on a ready supply of agricultural products,” Carden said.
Asean secretary general Surin Pitsuwan said the spike in food prices in 2007-2008—driven by concerns about the supply of rice—convinced Asean that food security was an issue critical for the future of the region.
“A strong desire to improve food security is one of the issues that unite Asean member states,” Surin said.
In the Philippines, the government is spending some P35.9 billion this year on irrigation systems and programs that would ensure an adequate supply of crops and livestock amid efforts to attain self-sufficiency in food production.
The Aquino administration has committed to spend more on various programs that would help the country achieve rice self-sufficiency by 2013.
According to the Department of Budget and Management, P24.5 billion has been allocated for the construction and rehabilitation of major irrigation systems.