While vulnerable to economic fluctuations, market forces, and climatic events, agriculture remains a critical driver of food security and economic stability in Southeast Asia.
Agriculture accounts for up to 20% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for countries in Southeast Asia. The region is home to two of the world’s largest rice exporters (Thailand and Vietnam), is the top producer and exporter of palm oil, coconut, and rubber, and includes the top three exporting countries for pineapple, banana, mango, sugar, coffee, cashew, and cassava. Smallholder farming remains the backbone of agricultural production in Southeast Asia, with a lack of access to information, markets, and capital trapping these small businesses in a vicious cycle of subsistence farming.
Grow Asia was established by the World Economic Forum, in collaboration with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), to bring together governments, the private sector, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other key stakeholders in the region to convene, facilitate, and scale efforts that promote more inclusive, resilient and sustainable food systems in Southeast Asia.
At the core of our work are three goals:
1
Creating more
inclusive value
chains
2
Supporting the
adoption of more
climate-smart
solutions
3
Increasing food
safety and
security in the
region
Grow Asia comprises the regional Grow Asia Secretariat in Singapore, five Country Chapters, each supported by an in-country team, and 44 Working Groups, organized around specific value chains (such as coffee) or cross-cutting issues (such as agri-finance).