ASEAN Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve
ASEAN Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve
Food security is defined by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) as “when all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life”. Its framework consists of four elements: food availability, access to food, the stability of food supplies and price, and food utilisation, including food security and nutrition. In a global perspective, most of ASEAN Plus Three (APT) countries are generally seen as fertile countries which can produce a variety of food for domestic consumption and export to the world market. However, food security situations in the APT today have been vulnerable so far.
The ASEAN Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve (APTERR), in 2021, is going to celebrate its 10th anniversary of establishment as a regional mechanism that strengthens food security and reduces poverty in the ASEAN Plus Three region (APT). With tremendous passions and efforts from the member countries as well as other relevant parties being put into it, the APTERR now develops and settles itself as one of the most reliable and reputable mechanisms to help assist people during times of emergency caused by disasters, which includes human-induce hazard, through many effective rice-providing programmes. Nevertheless, an efficiency of the programme improvement is always essential for the APTERR activities. That is why this article is going to discuss about potential ways for further improving the works of the organisation in 2021, particularly the implementations of Tier 1 and 2, the achievements of which are seemed to be far off from what they have been expected.
The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease posed by a newly discovered coronavirus. Most people will experience mild to moderate respiratory illness and recover without requiring special treatment whereas elders and those with underlying diseases such as cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, diabetes, and cancer are more likely to develop to a serious illness. By today, there are more than a million cases around the world infected, including ASEAN Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve (APTERR) member countries. Besides, there are currently no specific vaccines for COVID-19.
The ASEAN region has occasionally experienced a long-lasting food insecurity issues that pose a critical threat to livelihood and well-being of its citizens. To make the matters worse, during the years 2007 and 2008, the ASEAN Member States (AMS) had witnessed a social and economic impact of the world food price crisis, in which the price of staple foods was unprecedentedly increased due to several important factors such as rising fuel price and changes in climate pattern. From these reasons, the AMS realised that, in order to address the challenge, systematic policy framework along with work plan that prioritised on the accurate and inclusive agricultural data, sustainable food commodity production and trade, and timely relief mechanism of food supply in times of emergency were needed to be developed. Hence, the 14th ASEAN Summit held in 2009, pledging to embrace food security as a permanent and high policy priority, adopted the ASEAN Integrated Food Security (AIFS) Framework and Strategic Plan of Action – Food Security (SPA – FS) to be used during 2009-2013.
Earlier, the APTERR Secretariat arranged a field trip for the APTERR staff to visit the Satellite Warehouse under the Disaster Emergency Logistics System for ASEAN (DELSA) located at the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) Regional Office No.16 in Chainat province. The field study provided the APTERR staff with a concrete understanding on the DELSA mechanism and utilisation of the satellite warehouse during the emergency occurrence. Also, I think it would be an opportunity for the APTERR Secretariat to enhance cooperation with relevant agencies for humanitarian assistance and food security in the future, such as the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Centre).
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