He spotlighted the importance of reinventing agriculture, prioritizing healthy diets, resilience to climate change, and implementing evidence-based policies in transforming food systems to achieving sustainable development. He added that evidenced-based initiatives “will foster programmatic responses that recognize challenges and new evidence related to emerging issues such as healthy diet, traceability of food origin, information management, application of digital technology, enabling e-commerce, and logistics and trade.” 

The two-day seminar will run four (4) sessions and a policy forum which will gather the academe, policy makers and development partners from Southeast Asia to talk about policy recommendations that will promote high-quality research, education, and effective capacity development in the region. At the end of the event, a Manifesto which contains research and policy recommendations on sustainable food systems will be drafted. The event is also expected to create new opportunities for regional knowledge networks for collaborative research and capacity development among the attendees.

This event is being held in cooperation with the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security Policy Research, Capacity, and Influence (PRCI), Michigan State University; Regional Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support System (ReSAKSS-Asia); International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI); and Agricultural Economics Society of Thailand under Royal Patronage (AEST).