Rural Development and Food Security Forum 2019: Transformative Changes for Rural Prosperity and Nutritious Food

28 October 2019 to 30 October 2019

Manila

Philippines

The Asia Pacific region has made significant progress in terms of reducing food insecurity. Despite the remarkable gains, the region is still faced with challenges such as the increasing demand, climate change, shrinking agriculture workforce, and unsustainable use of natural resources, among others. Promoting rural development is critical in helping solve food security issues and propelling economic development.

The Asian Development Bank, through the Rural Development and Food Security (Agriculture) Thematic Group, organized the Rural Development Food Security Forum that served as a platform to exchange good practices, lessons learned, and innovative ideas on rural development and food security. The Forum built on the knowledge and learning gained from the 2016 Food Security Forum, 2017 Knowledge-Intensive Agriculture Workshop, 2018 Asia Water Forum, and the 2018 Digital Development Forum. The Forum also helped chart the strategic direction of rural development and food security as ADB’s fifth operational priority (OP5) in Strategy 2030 through the new Operational Plan for Rural Development and Food Security, 2019-2024.

The Forum included plenary and breakout sessions and an innovation marketplace.

Program and Learning Materials:

28 Oct 2019
29 Oct 2019
30 Oct 2019
31 Oct 2019

Date	Session / Activity	Presentation Material	Speaker(s)
28 Oct 2019	Opening Session	Transformative Changes for Rural Prosperity and Nutritious Food - Welcome Remarks Welcome remarks by Takehiko Nakao, President, Asian Development Bank at the Rural Development and Food Security Forum, 28 October 2019, ADB ...	Takehiko Nakao
28 Oct 2019	Session 1: Farming Crisis (Keynote)	Keynote Speech on the Farming Crisis Dr. Mekhala Krishnamurthy, Associate Professor of Sociology & Social Anthropology from Ashoka University, India delivers the Keynote...	Mekhala Krishnamurthy
28 Oct 2019	Session 2: Dysfunctional Agriculture Markets and Malnutrition	Rising Levels of Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Intensify Malnutrition Malnutrition is multifaceted problem and solution requires several dimensions. Learn how atmospheric carbon dioxide affects the food we ...	Irakli Loladze
28 Oct 2019	Session 2: Dysfunctional Agriculture Markets and Malnutrition	International Atomic Energy Agency Technical Coordination Program Majority of ADB's developing member countries are none nuclear power countries. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) rolls our...	Jane Gerardo-Abaya

Date	Session / Activity	Presentation Material	Speaker(s)
29 Oct 2019	Session 3: Rural Distress	Tackling Rural Distress in the 21st Century: A New Trans-Disciplinary Multi-stakeholder Paradigm of Development The large demographics facts – 3.4 billion today in rural population – will still be over 3 billion in 2050. People will still...	Mihir Shah
29 Oct 2019	Publications Launch	Keynote Address: Launch of Publications on Food Security Investment Requirements, Climate-Smart Practices, and Horticulture Value Chain Development This presentation provides an overview of the joint publications launched. These are the outputs from the joint research with ADB's long-standing...	Woochong Um
29 Oct 2019	Publications Launch	Ending Hunger in Asia and the Pacific by 2030: An Assessment of Investment Requirements in Agriculture This presentation gives an overview of the joint publications of ADB and the International Food Policy Research Institute that assess the investment...	Mark Rosegrant
29 Oct 2019	Session 4: ADB Knowledge Sharing and Experience on Climate Change, Gender Equity, High-Level Technology, and Natural Resources Management	Efforts to Apply High-Level Technologies in Central and West Asian Countries This presentation showcases some of ADB’s innovative projects in Central and West Asia in the field of agriculture. It also highlights the lessons...	Natsuko Totsuka
29 Oct 2019	Session 4: ADB Knowledge Sharing and Experience on Climate Change, Gender Equity, High-Level Technology, and Natural Resources Management	Mongolia’s Agriculture and Rural Development and ADB’s Assistance Learn how ADB is mobilizing its resources to beef up agriculture and rural development in Mongolia.	Qingfeng Zhang
29 Oct 2019	Session 4: ADB Knowledge Sharing and Experience on Climate Change, Gender Equity, High-Level Technology, and Natural Resources Management	ADB Knowledge Sharing and Experience on Climate Change, Gender Equity, High-Level Technology, and Natural Resource Management (Southeast Asia) This presentation showcases some of ADB’s innovative projects in Southeast Asia in the agriculture sector. It also highlights the lessons learned...	Srinivasan Ancha
29 Oct 2019	Session 5: Knowledge Sharing among Developing Member Countries	Farmer Producer Organizations: Experience in Maharashtra Check out how establishing farmer-producer organizations has helped farmers in Maharashtra, India.	Anoop Kumar
29 Oct 2019	Session 5: Knowledge Sharing among Developing Member Countries	Food Processing and Supply Chain Management Check out how Thailand is mixing social and environmental dynamics with new technologies to improve the country's food supply chain. ...	Charoenchai (Charlie) Khompatraporn
29 Oct 2019	Session 5: Knowledge Sharing among Developing Member Countries	Horticulture and Agri-food Business Development in Turkey Turkey is the world’s fourth largest producer of fresh vegetables and 7th largest producer of fruits. Learn how the agriculture sector is...	Mustafa Erkan
29 Oct 2019	Session 5: Knowledge Sharing among Developing Member Countries	Private Sector Initiatives in Agriculture This presentation discusses how Sri Lanka-based Silvermill empowers farmer communities.	Cedric Wijegunawardene

Date	Session / Activity	Presentation Material	Speaker(s)
30 Oct 2019	Session 6: Financing Agripreneurs and Rural SMEs	Financing Last Mile Communities AgUnity is helping farmers through the use of smartphones. Download this material to learn more.	David Davies
30 Oct 2019	Session 7: Voices from the Field–Farmers’ Roundtable Discussion	Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development Since 2002, the Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development has been helping farmers help themselves through a number ...	Jose Romeo Ebron
30 Oct 2019	Session 8: Voices from the Field - Youth Perspectives	Creating Opportunities for Rural Youth Ms. Sara Savastano, Director of the Research and Impact Assessment Division of the International Fund for Agriculture Development in Italy...	Sara Savastano
30 Oct 2019	Session 8: Voices from the Field - Youth Perspectives	Preliminary Agricultural Survey ADB’s Youth for Asia team ran a preliminary survey with farmers in Tarlac and Bulacan in the Philippines to assess the interest of youth’s interest...	William Lucht

Date	Session / Activity	Presentation Material
31 Oct 2019	Exhibitors	Netatech Pte Ltd Netatech has been working for over a decade to develop CrowdFarmX, a cooperative platform for farmers that will enable farms of all sizes to...
31 Oct 2019	Exhibitors	AgUnity Central to AgUnity’s solution is equipping farmers with smartphones and IOT technologies, which essentially transfer agency to each individual...
31 Oct 2019	Exhibitors	Cropin CropIn leverages alternative agri-data, such as those derived from satellite monitoring, artificial intelligence and big data analytics, to ...
31 Oct 2019	Exhibitors	Eagle Sensing Eaglesensing develops solutions for crop management problems in large scale plantations, utilizing proprietary software created to derive maximum...
31 Oct 2019	Exhibitors	Geora Geora’s open source technology bridges the gap between fundamental technical components and agri-supply chain participants, helping the community...
31 Oct 2019	Exhibitors	Grain Pro GrainPro products help reduce food losses and improve food quality by protecting agricultural commodities against insect infestation, mold growth...
31 Oct 2019	Exhibitors	International Atomic Energy Agency Nuclear technologies provide competitive and often unique solutions to help fight hunger and malnutrition, improve environmental sustainability...
31 Oct 2019	Exhibitors	International Rice Research Institute The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) is the world’s premiere research organization dedicated to reducing poverty and hunger through...
31 Oct 2019	Exhibitors	King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi STEAM Platform empowers the youth in Asia in acquiring Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) knowledge and strategic communication...