Dr. Liang-Chou Hsia, President of Yu Chou Friendly Agriculture Research Institute from Taiwan, who chaired the roundtable discussion on food and agriculture reported that, aside from himself the session featured three other speakers from Taiwan, the Philippines and Japan who shared with the audience the recent trends and developments in food and agriculture in their respective countries: […]
History of the Asian Council on Food and Agriculture (ACFA)
CACCI believes that food insecurity is seen to increasingly threaten the stability of global, regional and national economic and ecological conditions. It is important to create a living environment where every person has economic and physical access to sufficient food to sustain a healthy and productive life, and where food originates from efficient, effective, and low-cost food and agricultural systems that are compatible with sustainable use and management of natural resources.
CACCI has therefore established the Asian Council on Food and Agriculture (ACFA) to provide members a platform for discussing the challenges to assuring food security, how these challenges can be overcome, what are the priority actions to be taken by relevant parties in terms of changing behaviour, priorities and policies.
Activities
The establishment of the ACFA was endorsed by the 79th CACCI Council Meeting held in Istanbul, Turkey on March 7, 2011. Mr. S P S Ranatunga, Managing Director/CEO, CIC Holdings PLC and Vice Chairman, Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, was subsequently designated as Chairman of ACFA.
The ACFA held its first breakout session on March 15, 2013 in Cebu, Philippines in conjunction with the 27th CACCI Conference. The session was chaired by Mr. Harin Malwatte, Secretary General/CEO of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, on behalf of ACFA Chairman Mr. Ranatunga who was unable to join the Cebu Conference. Mr. Malwatte made a presentation on the current state of food and agriculture in Asia Pacific. Mr. Roberto Amores, Chairman of the Agriculture Philippines Chamber of Commerce & Industry, discussed the status and prospects of Food & Agriculture industries in the Philippines and the opportunities for CACCI countries to network and share best practices amongst each other.
The second breakout session of the ACFA was held on September 19, 2014 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in conjunction with the 28th CACCI Conference. The session featured speakers who shared their views on the topic “Ensuring Food Security and the Sustainable Use of Natural Resources.”
This is the list of past ACFA meetings:
* Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Meeting, September 19, 2014 * Cebu, Philippines Conference, March 2013
Dr. Hsia made a presentation on the latest global trends in the food industry. According to Dr. Hsia, in addition to the growing importance of food security, the shortage of food supply will be an inevitable development in the future, and people would need to not only avoid wasting food, but also explore more sources of nutrition, including even eating worms.
Dr. Wei Fang, Professor and Former Chairman, Department of Bio-Industrial Mechatronics Engineering, National Taiwan University, spoke on the idea of “plant factory” not only for solving worldwide challenges ahead but also open up worldwide business opportunities.
Mr. Rommel Sim Gerodias, President and CEO, Sauber Professionals, Inc. from the Philippines focused on food security, analyzing the global burdens of food-borne diseases, discussing evolving food security problems, and shareing his views on the future of food security. In conclusion, he indicated that in the future, people can expect an increasing number of devices and applications within food businesses to do more testing on an increasingly diverse range of parameters. With the technological developments, there is certainly scope to increase the ease and frequency of food product testing over and above standard tests from farm to fork.
Keiichiro Wakai, Chairman of Aomori Chamber of Commerce and Industry, talked on “Developing a new era of exchange between Tohoku in Japan and Asia through dispelling reputational damages”. Mr. Wakai said that five years and eight months since “the Great East Japan Earthquake” that struck the Tohoku region and caused unprecedented damage, the reconstruction is underway, thanks to the enormous support from the people in Japan and overseas, and the tireless effort of the people in the afflicted areas.
