SERD Policy Talk (SPOT): Strengthening the Agri-food System

In the 10th SPOT webinar, Omer Zafar, Takashi Yamano, and Noorullah from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Dil Rahut from the ADB Institute, and Jennifer Rosenzweig from Indonesia’s World Food Programme shared their views on factors that threaten the agriculture food system in Southeast Asia. They discussed cyclical factors and structural challenges shaping the global food system, including the effects of high food prices on nutrition and access to affordable diets, and the impact of climate change and other shocks on productivity and food production.

Neil Ian Lumanlan

Ian is a circular economy and biotechnology professional specializing in the valorization of waste biomass to address climate change and sustainable development goals.

He has a wide range of practical experience in microbial biotechnology in food and agriculture, aquaculture, water and wastewater, waste management, bioremediation, and pharmaceuticals. He has been an independent consultant since 2005. In 2012 he founded DMFP, a probiotics manufacturing business for the poultry and livestock industry in the Philippines.

Navin Twarakavi

Digital Transformation and Innovation Expert in DeepTech related to agriculture, climate change, and sustainability. Driven to solve problems through scientifically-grounded innovations. He is an expert in understanding and digitally solving agricultural issues in the developed and developing world. Experienced in Policy/ project design on digital agriculture at scale. Consulted for Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)., UNIDO, WB, and WEF. A fan of science, collaboration, and customer experience.

Cao Đức Phát

Mr. Cao Đức Phát is currently a Member of the Central Council for Theoretic Studies, Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees of Vietnam Agriculture University, and Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees of the International Rice Research Institute.

From 2016 to 2021, he was the Permanent Deputy Chair of the Central Economic Commission after having served as Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam from 2004 to 2016. In 2003, he was Deputy Secretary of An Giang Provincial Committee of CPV.

Vikash Jha

Currently, Vikash is the Founder - C.E.O of RuKart. He founded RuKart along with two other IIT Bombay alums in 2019. Mr. Jha did M.Tech in Technology & Development from CTARA at IIT Bombay. During his masters program, he has shown interest in developing scalable green technologies for small plot holders. This led to grant support from IIT Bombay after completing his M.Tech. He & his team developed technologies like Subjee Cooler and Peek-Rakshak in a participatory approach where the end-users were an integral part of the design team.

Solutions Search: Meaningful Youth Engagement in ADB's Greater Mekong Subregion Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security Program

This contest is a solution-sharing platform for Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) youth. Through the form of a short video (2 minutes maximum) or an essay (500 words maximum), GMS youth are encouraged to showcase their current project/business/initiative that is relevant to any of the three main themes of ADB’s GMS SAFSP:

Ede Ijjasz-Vasquez

Ede Ijjasz has more than 30 years of senior technical and management experience at the World Bank, academia, and consulting. His expertise is in the areas of finance, infrastructure, global environment, sustainable development, cities, water resources, climate change, agriculture, blue economy, resilience, fragility and conflict, resettlement, PPPs, and ESG.