'Grow Asia' seeks to revitalise farm sector

It is against this backdrop that “Grow Asia” – a new initiative focusing on agriculture space under the World Economic Forum (WEF) and fully backed by the agriculture ministers of Southeast Asia – was launched during the East Asia Summit meetings hosted by the Philippines in late May.

Nandu Nandkishore, executive vice president for Asia, Oceania Africa and Middle East at global food and beverage giant Nestle and co-chair of the Grow Asia initiative, said this was a platform to bring together the government, the private sector, farmers and civil society in a partnership to identify key issues in and seek solutions to the often-neglected farm sector.

“Alongside the rise in population, as people emerge out of poverty and gain consumer affluence, they all want to consume more animal protein because they want to get away from the carbohydrate-rich diets, which are the staple of the poor,” Nandkishore said in an interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Around 150 government and business leaders – including agriculture ministers from other Southeast Asian countries like Malaysia and Indonesia – explored ways to accelerate sustainable agricultural growth and achieve food security through market-based multistakeholder initiatives, under WEF’s New Vision for Agriculture framework.

Nandkishore said Grow Asia, which President Aquino himself said he fully supported, was inspired by the “Grow Africa” initiative, a programme born out of this new vision for agriculture that started in Davos, Switzerland, where the WEF holds its annual members’ meetings. He noted that Grow Africa was successful in mobilising investments in the agricultural sector in African countries like Tanzania.