Closing Session

This session highlighted the opportunities for transformative changes in rural development and food security; how ADB's approach will adjust in the next 5 to 10 years; and how the technical revolution will affect farmer's access to financing.

Financing Agripreneurs and Rural Small and Medium-size Enterprise

Discussion in this session focuses on innovative financing mechanisms, including emerging ICT platforms and fintech, to extend credit and banking services to small and dispersed borrowers, i.e., agripreneurs and SMEs for farm and nonfarm operations in rural areas. The panelists explore how they see the future and what is required from the public sector in terms of enabling policies and creating a level playing field to foster and expand pro-farmer smart financing options and opportunities.

Rural Distress

This session highlights the imbalance in rural–urban development and its significant negative impacts on national economic growth, rural employment, food security and nutrition, and urbanization. Good examples of rural revitalization will show that well-developed rural areas can play a vital role in wider economic development and generating good jobs for the youth. Specific recommendations regarding green and blue investments were discussed.

Kundhavi Kadiresan

Kundhavi Kadiresan, who holds a PhD in Economics and an MA in International Business, is Assistant Director-General and FAO’s Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific. She has more than 25 years of managerial experience in economic and policy development. Kadiresan, an economist, has spent most of her professional career with the World Bank Group. She has worked in Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe and Latin America, where she led senior-level policy dialogues and managed large loan portfolios.

Musdhalifa Machmud

Musdhalifah Machmud is engaged as Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, the Coordinating Ministry of Economic Affairs, Republic of Indonesia. She manages for Food and Agriculture, including strategic policies which made by the Ministry. Her coordination and strategic policies includes rice, red meat, corn, soya bean, palm oil, cocoa, tea, rubber, sugarcane, biofuels, horticulture products, fertilizer, seeds, and other agriculture issues. Between 1988 and 2003, she served the Ministry of Forestry.

Keynote Address: Launch of Publications on Food Security Investment Requirements, Climate-Smart Practices, and Horticulture Value Chain Development

Woochong Um, Director General of ADB's Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department, delivered a keynote speech during the publications launched held during the Rural Development and Food Security Forum.