The move toward a computerized implementation and monitoring system to accurately track food security in the ASEAN region will help countries offset the shocks caused by price and supply-demand fluctuations, an FAO-convened workshop heard today.

The workshop, co-organized by FAO’s Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific and the ASEAN Secretariat, aims to train country focal points and members of a Coordinating Monitoring Team the key elements of a computer-based system for monitoring and evaluating progress of the ASEAN Integrated Food Security (AIFS) Framework and the Strategic Plan of Action on Food Security (SPA-FS).

“Through a technical cooperation programme, country focal points will learn how to enter the required data, and ASEAN Secretariat staff will discover how to use this computerized information to monitor progress of the AIFS and SPA-FS,” said Hiroyuki Konuma, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative. “FAO has been assisting ASEAN with development and implementation of its AIFS and SPA-FS since 2009, and we are honoured to continue being involved in the development of the second phase of ASEAN’s AIFS Framework and SPA-FS for 2015-2020,” he added.

The data collection and computerization of AIFS and SPA-FS implementation and monitoring is an important step forward in the joint work of FAO and the ASEAN Secretariat in matters of ensuring food security, Konuma pointed out.

“Although most food commodities are presently in plentiful supply in our region, and prices are at a five year low for the most part, it hasn’t always been that way,” Konuma reminded participants. “The food shocks and price hikes of the last decade have taught us we need to be better prepared and this new system will go some way to ensuring that.”   “As we go forward, a generation from now, our cities will have grown enormously, by 2050 the world population will have increased to more than 9 billion people, and our ability to ensure there is enough food will be seriously challenged,” Konuma said, pointing out that FAO estimates at least 60 percent more food will need to be produced to meet future demand. “That’s why the more we do now to prepare, the better off we’ll be in facing those challenges we know are coming.”

The two-day training workshop "Strengthening the capacity of ASEAN in coordination and monitoring of the implementation of ASEAN Integrated Food Security Framework and the Strategic Plan of Action on Food Security" is taking place at FAO’s Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific.